That Ugly The Handmaid's Tale Movie From the 90s Is Actually a Must-Watch For Atwood Fans

Summary:

• The Handmaid's Tale is a book by Margaret Atwood that was made into a movie in 1990.
• It’s not as highly praised as the series of the same name featuring Elisabeth Moss.
• The movie and the show have a lot of differences.

The Handmaid’s Tale is one of Hulu 's most popular shows so far, and there’s no wonder why: the gripping dystopian story is something that although keeps you awake at night is also so captivating you literally have to finish the season of the series once you start watching it.

The series is based on Margaret Atwood's novel of the same name, which was published in 1985. The thing is, the book itself was very popular at the time, which is why the first adaptation of the story didn't come out until five years later.

With the incredible success of the Hulu series, it seems that many fans of the story still don't know that there was a movie released in 1990 that focuses on the same story that everybody is so obsessed with.

Is The Handmaid’s Tale Movie Bad?

The 1990 adaptation is directed by Volker Schlöndorff and scripted by Harold Pinter (with heavy rewriting by Atwood and others, reportedly). The premise of the movie is quite the same: it focuses on a frighteningly plausible authoritarian/theocratic near-future, where the life of all people is changed drastically.

Elisabeth Moss' character, played by the late Natasha Richardson, is taken from her family and assigned to work as a "handmaid" for a high-ranking government official. She has the same name, Offred, as the series’ main character, but there are some differences between the two adaptations.

For starters, the show’s commanders and wifes are quite young, while the movie keeps the images depicted in the book and is in general closer to the original story.

“I think the movie is pretty good setting up information based on the book. You see the separation of race, Serena was a famous televangelist in the books and everyone knew her, and Nick being around her age. It's hard to compare because all three books, movies and show are so different,” Redditor Mango7185 said.

Well, of course, the big screen adaptation had a lot less time to delve into the plot, so maybe that's why it was mostly panned by fans of the story and only got 32% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Still, we think that while the final season of The Handmaid's Tale series is still in the works, it might be a good idea to watch the movie on Prime.