Under a dystopian religious tyranny, most women cannot conceive children. Those young women who can live in a form of sexual slavery to provide children for influential families.Under a dystopian religious tyranny, most women cannot conceive children. Those young women who can live in a form of sexual slavery to provide children for influential families.Under a dystopian religious tyranny, most women cannot conceive children. Those young women who can live in a form of sexual slavery to provide children for influential families.
- Awards
- 2 wins & 1 nomination
Reiner Schöne
- Luke
- (as Rainer Schoene)
Robert D. Raiford
- Dick
- (as Robert Raiford)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaWhile working on the film, Robert Duvall became so fascinated with evangelism that it inspired him to write The Apostle (1997).
- GoofsWhen Moira ties up Aunt Lydia and escapes the Red Center, it is late at night, but moments later, when she exits, it is clearly daytime.
- SoundtracksWhispering Hope
Written by Septimus Winner as Alice Hawthorne
Featured review
Startling visual impact
The handmaids in brilliant red, the wives in electric blue, the children in white--Margaret Atwood's neo-fascist state comes startingly alive in Schloendorff's film. The bright colors are oppressive in their uniformity, whether in the "ceremony"--Robert Duvall's passionless copulation with Natasha Richardson as she lies in the lap of his sterile wife, Faye Dunaway--or in the party to celebrate the birth of a handmaid's child, or the execution of another handmaid for fornication. There are several fine actors--Elizabeth McGovern and Aidan Quinn also play memorable, if brief, roles--but the cinematography steals the show here, giving this anti-Utopia the same oppressive tension as the original 1984 and far surpassing any version of Brave New World. It may be that Atwood's book, which I haven't read, adds layers of depth to the characters and plot, but Schloendorff's visualisation is a real enhancement to the tale. He creates the tension of a police state with only momentary intrusions of brutality or machinery. A strong film that will gain its following with time.
helpful•5221
- ddelamaide
- May 20, 2001
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Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Die Geschichte der Dienerin
- Filming locations
- James Adams Buchanan House, 1810 Cedar St, Durham, North Carolina, USA(Commander Fred's house)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $4,960,385
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $738,578
- Mar 11, 1990
- Gross worldwide
- $4,960,385
- Runtime1 hour 48 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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