"The Handmaid's Tale" would be a difficult plot to try to film. Many of the scenes would be very well depicted in a visual matter but during the more quiet moments when Offred is laying in bed thinking and when she is having a conversation with someone it would be hard to capture the true feelings of the character.
When she is walking down the street in her pair not much has happened outwardly. She walks past the guards swinging her hips and later feels a little guilty about it; film wouldn't be able to depict the second thoughts about her actions or the response she thought the men would have. Small moments like that help the reader understand how strict the rules are and the amount of sexual tension most men of the Republic have because of their lack of sexual interaction.
And when Offred is walking in her pair she thinks to herself maybe the woman she is walking with is a believer in the Republic and would turn her in if she disagreed. But almost simultaneously she asks herself, perhaps this woman isn't a believer but thinks that I am. This turmoil wouldn't be able to be captured in a film like the written word can.
If these small details are left out of the movie it would distort the traits of the Republic of Gilead and the true characteristics of the characters. So the completion of a film based on this would be a triumph if it was able to portray all of these tiny instances.
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Shanna Mae,
ReplyDeleteNice post!
I think you're right to assume that the most difficult scenes from the novel to try and capture on film will be those 'quiet' moments that don't lend themselves well to the screen, but are nonetheless (as you point out here) essential to the meaning of the novel.
I'll be interested to hear what you think both of the end of the novel and of the film version of it.