The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid's Tale (1990) — watch online the dystopian drama directed by Volker Schlöndorff, adapted from Margaret Atwood's novel. Starring Natasha Richardson, Robert Duvall and Faye Dunaway. A US-German co-production, 108 minutes. Screenplay by Harold Pinter.

In the theocratic Republic of Gilead, fertile women are property of the state. The protagonist is assigned as a Handmaid — a sanctioned concubine placed with a Commander whose wife cannot conceive. She has no name, no rights, and no exit that doesn't carry a death sentence. Pinter's script strips away Atwood's inner voice and lets the silence do the work.

This 1990 film predates the celebrated TV series by nearly three decades and reads the same source material with a colder, more European restraint. Stream The Handmaid's Tale (1990) online on iFILM.