The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter (1995) is Roland Joffé's period romance, available to watch online on iFILM. Loosely drawn from Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic novel, it stars Demi Moore, Gary Oldman and Robert Duvall.

Mid-1600s Boston runs on harsh Puritan law. Hester Prynne (Demi Moore) arrives in the colony alone, her husband still overseas and rumored dead. She grows close to a young, admired minister, Arthur Dimmesdale (Gary Oldman), and their bond breaks every rule the settlement is built on. When Hester turns up pregnant and refuses to name the father, the court sentences her to wear a red "A" stitched to her dress, a public mark of adultery. Then the missing husband walks back into town under a false name, nursing a quiet plan for revenge.

Joffé reshapes the assigned-reading classic into a sensual costume drama where forbidden desire crashes into religious zeal. The ending veers sharply from Hawthorne, which earned the film plenty of scorn at the time, yet on its own terms it carries weight through mood and three commanding leads. Stream The Scarlet Letter (1995) online on iFILM.