THE SCARLET
LETTER
1972

Director:
Wim Wenders

Screenplay:
Wim Wenders Bernardo Fernandez (based on the scenario "Der Herr klagt über sein Volk in der Wildnis Amerika" by Tankred Dorst und Ursula Ehler based on the novel "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne)

Editor:
Peter Przygodda

Music:
Jürgen Knieper

Cast:
Senta Berger
Hans-Christian Blech
Lou Castel
Rüdiger Vogler
Yella Rottländer

Producers:
Thomas Schamoni
Wim Wenders

Production:
Wim Wenders Produktion

Length:
90 min

Format:
35 mm
color

Original Title:
Der Scharlachrote
Buchstabe

Original Language:
German

17th century puritanical America.

A small hamlet engulfed by wilderness. A woman, Hester Prynne, is set in a pillory and must wear a scarlet "A", as punishment for bearing a child out of wedlock and not divulging the name of her child's father. Pride and love make the scorn of the puritanical citizens bearable.

An older stranger arrives, recognized by Hester, but unknown to others as her missing husband. He poses as a doctor, watching Hester and searching out the identity of her lover ...

And now, through time, a story crystallizes in which a place of birth, and freedom, confront one another like two enemies.







"A story which, on the surface, has nothing to do with 'his' themes, becomes for the first time, without alterations, the center of all Wenders' movements in a glance." - Peter Buchka