The Handmaid's tale

United States, 1989

Film
Please note

Sorry, we aren't able to make images or video for this item available to the public online.

In the near future, the air and water is poisoned, the result is sterility. Only one out of a hundred women can still bear children and some women stopped, believing there would be no future. The solution; to create an army of ‘handmaids’, an involuntary, semi-religious order of women who exist solely to bear children for the rich, powerful ruling class. Kate (Natasha Richardson) becomes a victim of this cruel and backward world, where women are divided into three kinds, Handmaids, Wives or Prostitutes. A chilling look at a possible future. Based on the novel by Margaret Atwood. Screenplay by Harold Pinter. Cast also includes Victoria Tennant, Faye Dunaway, Elizabeth McGovern, Aidan Quinn and Robert Duvall.

Content notification

Our collection comprises over 40,000 moving image works, acquired and catalogued between the 1940s and early 2000s. As a result, some items may reflect outdated, offensive and possibly harmful views and opinions. ACMI is working to identify and redress such usages.

Learn more about our collection and our collection policy here. If you come across harmful content on our website that you would like to report, let us know.

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/83088--the-handmaids-tale/ |title=The Handmaid's tale |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=25 April 2024 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}