Hulu Streaming: The Handmaid’s Tale
“The Handmaid’s Tale” is an adaptation of the terrific Margaret Atwood dystopian novel of the same name. At the moment, the first three episodes are available to stream on Hulu, and a new episode will be released weekly on Wednesdays. The series is off to a strong start, offering an unsettling look at a world in the not too distant future that is controlled by a totalitarian state governed by Christian principles that are oppressive to women.
The show frequently jumps between the past and present, showing how our world transformed into this bleak dystopia. In this future world fertility rates have dropped sharply. In response to this, the government has adopted a religious philosophy that puts childbirth and female subservience at the center of its ideology.
The star of the show is Elisabeth Moss, who plays a Handmaid. The role of the Handmaid is to bear children for distinguished high-ranking government officials whose wives are unable to have their own. This expectation is expressed bluntly from one of the “Aunts,” whose job it is to educate the Handmaids to their new responsibilities and duties. Aunt Lydia instructs the new Handmaids, “Fertility is a gift direct from God. You girls will serve the leaders of the faithful and their barren wives. You will bear children for them.” This essentially makes the Handmaids slaves to these families they are assigned to, as they are forced to have sex with the husbands, and to be subservient to the wives.
What makes this series so amazing is the imaginative world-building, in combination with the strong acting. There really are no bad performances, but the performance of Elisabeth Moss is truly exceptional. While the Handmaids are expected to largely be quiet and to go unnoticed, this means that much of the acting is non-verbal. There are a large number of scenes that are fixed close-ups on Moss’ character Offred. In a number of these scenes Offred does not even allow her inner feelings to show in her expressions, as she doesn’t want the world to know her true feelings. It’s amazing how much acting Moss is able to do with just her eyes.
So far this series has shown a lot of promise. It has a strong visual aesthetic, a great script with strong source material to work from, and an excellent cast. This show has quickly established itself as a must-watch Spring show.
