All the encounters are reunions after a long separation in the world. I guess, Hester and Arthur must have seen much affliction before they meet each other. Their love sprouts like the seed of evil, and bursts into bloom.
     Red roses in prison, which offer the fragrance and fragile beauty to the dying prisoners, have already predicted a vivid metaphor at the beginning. Love is beautiful, like rose; yet love is cold and painful, like its thorn.
    I don’t understand the treatise on Good and Evil in transcendentalism of Emerson, I don’t understand the concept of salvation in the Bible, more don’t understand the puritan tradition in the United States. The scarlet letter, for me, is not only a piece of love history, but also a confession related to the original sin. With the fall of Adam and Eve, human beings are originally sinful. The Bible tells us love covers over all wrongs. Moreover, the innocent is not the one to blame. A kind-hearted and honest couple, once trapped in the puzzle of extramarital affair, they are destined to walk into a dilemma——since the flame of love and the perfection of morality mostly can’t live together. As in Paradise Lost, the hero and heroine choose to suicide in their blissful love.
    There are no ugly loves, nor handsome prisons. For Arthur, Hester is undoubtedly beauteous in looks, and seductive in personality. For Hester, when Arthur says I love you affectionately to her, she can feel the love that he bears patiently in this man’s eyes and hands, even silence. In their seven years, determination, hypocrisy, and self-deception are all human nature; in their whole life, long waiting, sense of guilt, and endurance for the contempt are all atonement. In my eyes, Hester veritably has the right to say love although her purity and courage deviate from morality and ethics. Love is colder than death——their love is holy but miserable, like the sacrificial offerings on the altar.
    The bible says that love can bear all things, hope all things, and endure all things. Miss Hester keeps silence for their forbidden love for seven years, while Mr. Arthur pays for this piece of virtueless love at the cost of his life. Who dares to say that the affection between Hester and Arthur is not true love? Common customs tear their bodies apart, but their souls will stay together forever. They feel each other in their stomachs, and they enjoy the ecstasy of sex. Who dares to say that sex doesn’t mean love? There is no doubt that Pearl is the crystal of their love.
    Love is a kind of curse, and love is a lonely carnival. The Scarlet Letter not merely tells the process of romantic love, it tells the ending of love——more accurately the consequence of love that knocks on everyone’s soul. When Arthur falls down on the scaffold due to the heavy burden in mind, when Hester’s ashes are buried beside Arthur after many years, have they ever regretted for the things they had done, including love and the confession of love? Love is colder than death——Hester and Arthur break the curse——chains of morality, and the sublimation of their love burns all the people’s eyes.
    With a bloody letter A on his naked chest, Arthur died in Hester’s arms——he is finally released. However, his deep love for Hester will never disappear. The moment when Arthur eventually stands in front of the multitude and shouts loudly I LOVE THIS WOMAN, we witness a scene of extraordinary love, and the shameful letter A is endowed with new meaning.
    Every character in the book is adorned with a letter A. Hester and Arthur are the undertakers of A. Those righteous people in New England who propose to punish Hester with A——they are the makers of A. And those crowds of onlookers are witnesses of A. Hester’s husband is a dirty dog——he is the enquirer of A. Little Pearl is compared to the fruit of sin, and she is the savior of A. I think the scarlet letter A can be considered as Adultery, Able, Admirable, Amour, Angel, Advance, and even America.
    In the end, Hawthorne writes, On a field, sable, the letter A, gules. I seem to see a woman kneel on the wasteland, in front of her there is a tomb. The woman is so devout that she looks like a statue of a nun. She firmly believes that there will be a new era some day, a bright and heavenly era.
    Love is colder than death. Hester and Arthur, have already lost their names, bodies and souls.
    Now, maybe I should go to read Moby Dick by Melville. That’s for Hawthorne.

本來沖著“紅字”的標(biāo)題、Gary Oldman還有海報去看的片子。。。

沒想到看得不知所云?。?！

136分鐘的片子，看完了發(fā)現(xiàn)，兩個多小時再也回不來了?。?！

把原著改得亂七八糟，人物簡直是頂著原著名號的冒充者罷了。。。

以Demi Moore的聲音怎么適合演女主？？？

說著說著就像纏帶卡殼了，讓人聽著渾身難受?。?！

而且，原著中女主那隱忍、逆順的外表哪去了？？？

被Demi演成了一個拓荒欲望極強的女權(quán)主義者?。。?br>
更夸張的是：Demi在片子里面強壯地像個漢子?。?！

有沒有搞錯？？？

Gary Oldman也把原著中悶騷的男主演成了明騷的憤青?。。?br>
還有Gary湖中洗澡露PPJJ的場景太扯淡了點吧？？？

男主一個美洲殖民地拓荒期的牧師，遮還來不及，怎么可能經(jīng)常跑去人家后院裸泳呢？？？

再說紅鳥勾引女主、女奴偷窺女主洗澡、長發(fā)男試圖強奸女主、長發(fā)男被女主老公暗殺、女主老公自殺的橋段，亂七八糟哪里來的??？？？

這不是美劇好不好！??！

至于Pearl，和個道具差不多。。。

完全沒有原著中小女孩的靈氣和妖質(zhì)！?。?br>
還有片子的畫外音，一直聽得我蛋疼?。?！

虧了我是個男生，可以很精確運用“蛋疼”這個詞來形容自己當(dāng)時的感受。。。

總之，不靠譜啊不靠譜?。。。。。?！

話說自由是魔鬼，因而新教徒們肆意地在新大陸踩場，天真的Hester踏足饑餓的陷阱；在這里，Arthur的赤裸會被溪流擁抱；赤鳥在林木中享受無忌的誘惑。因為自由是魔鬼，所以天空與大地做起了愛，所以偷情可以不戴套，鬼祟可以不關(guān)門，就連浴室也可以開小洞。不好意思，這里是美洲大陸——自由與夢想的國度。就像Harrier阿姨的大劇透：美女和帥哥就該在一起。

那些懷抱可愛情懷的童鞋們，The Scarlet Letter里頭有偉大的愛吧，也有撼人的信念吧，不過在我看來，愛情只是網(wǎng)名，真相卻是自由。從開場，Hester就在奮力掙脫律法的約束，試圖自個兒開展一番生活，同時也在掙脫鄰舍們的目光閑言，掙脫鄉(xiāng)俗禮節(jié)的規(guī)范，似乎凡塵的一切皆成束縛。Hester就不該屬于此地，但她是天使還是魔鬼？也許她是魔鬼，因為自由在這里就是魔鬼，那么她的心頭鐫刻著自由，說不準(zhǔn)是從火星跑來的魔鬼。這或許就是為什么作為天使的Arthur終遭迷惑。不過看來，就連Arthur也在追逐自由。即使最后把真相大告天下，難道不是在以死亡作為自由從而逃脫心靈深重的焦灼么？電影里，女人對自由的感知是基于無知，而那男人的自由便是基于畏懼。當(dāng)忠貞比縱欲更難面對，Hester從容地選擇妥協(xié)；當(dāng)負(fù)罪變得比自縛更讓人悲痛，Arthur的抉擇無疑是死亡。這分明不是什么女權(quán)主義下的堅韌，也不是責(zé)任當(dāng)前的大無畏精神，只是自由賦予了自由的牢籠，而兩名臆想的靈魂在自我設(shè)定的陰霾里逃竄罷了。

在基督的歷史里，女性頭頂丑陋的帽子被指作罪惡的源頭。伊甸園里有禁果孕育的自由，但這自由里的魔鬼并非單純地等同于罪惡。上帝僅告訴了他們自由化身為一道門，然而是哪一道終究還是Hester與Arthur的選擇。

很難判定改編的結(jié)尾不會涉及到90年代中期好萊塢電影總體偏向的小溫情格調(diào)。各位耳熟能詳?shù)牟皇荈orrest Gump （《阿甘正傳》）、The Shawshank Redemption（《肖申克的救贖》）就是Léon（《這個殺手不太冷》），殘忍里不乏溫存。然而，到底是什么時候有情人終成眷屬就意味著一定是大團圓結(jié)局？看不到即使是Titanic里愛得生生死死轟轟烈烈的Jack 和Rose到頭來也抵不住現(xiàn)實中Revolutionary Road的百般無奈么？相遇后的Hester和Arthur就好似找到了生存與奮斗的理由，然而結(jié)局一旦獲得了這以愛情代言的自由，誰又能保準(zhǔn)偏左的Hester和靠右的Arthur不會出現(xiàn)信仰分歧？有的戀人適合談情，而有的則該經(jīng)營家庭。有時候在人懷念過往的同時，表明他并不滿足于現(xiàn)狀，電影里頭Pearl的旁白，我讀出了一點這樣的意味……由誰來判定究竟是原著還是電影要更悲劇些？誰要來定義罪惡？誰又要來定義自由？

一不小心，我這樣的延伸似乎給純粹的愛情片加上了突兀的諷刺色彩。本片的改編帶有矛盾，電影The Scarlet Letter究竟是反宗教或是頌揚宗教，Roland Joffé的作品大概偏向于前者。但畢竟，還是有人會看到看不見的事物。撇去懷疑主義，我還是老實看電影的好……

這部由霍桑的小說改編的電影 讓我第一次覺得原來電影也可以比原著好看
小說中亞瑟牧師是個懦弱的男人 不能保護自己所愛 最后死在了普林的懷中 一個悲劇收場 留下的是這樣的遺憾與無奈 但是在電影中 加里奧德曼的亞瑟牧師卻是一個堅貞勇敢熱情無畏的男人 賦予了亞瑟又一種生命 雖然他也膽小害羞 雖然他也被封建禮教束縛 可是當(dāng)自己的女人站在絞刑架上的時候 他站了出來 對人群對世俗對上帝高喊:我是孩子的父親 在上帝眼中 我是她的丈夫 那一刻我也激動的想大喊 怎樣的勇敢讓他可以在背負(fù)這么多沉重之后終于面對這一切 終于喊出了幾年來無法承擔(dān)的責(zé)任 其實男人是要比女人苦的 女人雖然被世俗唾棄 但她是坦蕩的 是高尚的 她無所畏懼 但是男人呢?無法觸碰自己心愛的女人 無法擁抱剛出生的孩子 在人前仍舊做他高尚的牧師 講他的經(jīng)布他的道 誰也無法了解他內(nèi)心隱忍的苦痛 而這一刻 他終于能站起來 終于能擺脫束縛 終于能擁抱愛人和孩子了 但是他卻不再擁有上帝的微笑 同樣面臨被絞死的命運 這時候的印第安人來襲而造成的大團員結(jié)局是我覺得最無法接受的 生硬的可以 但還是希望給我一個這樣的大團員結(jié)局 大概最近悲劇看多了 或者也沒有那么生硬了 大家知道亞瑟有印第安人罩著 還敢把他怎樣?
影片的場景服裝都很好 顏色也漂亮 我截了幾張圖 發(fā)現(xiàn)任何一張拿出來都可以畫一張古典主義的油畫了 記得最深的就是普林偷看亞瑟洗澡那場戲 她本來是束著頭發(fā)的 看到亞瑟之前放了下來 還戴上了一頂花環(huán) 讓我想起夏娃和伊甸園來了 傳說這一段加里有露點 但是操蛋的是我居然買了刪節(jié)版...