Os Amores de Moll Flanders

A tale of one woman's journey through her own life of desperation and consequence. This film follows the heroine, Moll Flanders, through her diary left to her daughter via its caretaker Hibble played masterfully by Morgan Freeman. A true testament to the indomitable spirit of mankind, or in this case womankind. I highly recommend this film.

Over all, I thought that "Moll Flanders" was a good movie. It is a little slow moving. That's the only complaint though. The story revolves around Moll Flanders. She's a slave whom goes into prostitution. And one of her customers happens to fall in love with her. They also have a child together. The movie is just about her life. But it's very heart warming, and I think any woman would enjoy it. If you enjoy Morgan Freeman or Robin Write, this is one of their best performances. I'm a little surprised with the rating. But, I guess you can't win them all. I would recommend "Moll Flanders".

7/10

Nothing like Defoe's book, this simply uses the character of Moll Flanders to create a completely different story - true, there is still the thieving and the prostitution, but that's where the similarities end.

Robin Wright is a spirited Moll and is well supported by Morgan Freeman as a slave she meets on her travels who looks out for her from then on, and Stockard Channing as a scheming brothel madam. Aisling Corcoran plays Flora, the daughter Moll abandoned, and who she leaves her story to inform her of her origins.

A little muddled, and no doubt a disappointment for those wishing to see an adaptation of the book (for this, see the excellent version with Alex Kingston made the same year), this 'Moll Flanders' nevertheless looks great and benefits from a great performance from Wright. Well worth a look.

Dafoe's 1722 book, from which this movie is supposedly based, is one of the most important works of the 18th century. It explores the then-new possibility of reinventing oneself in the city. By contrast, people in pre-urban times were constrained by circumstance and family -- everyone in your village knew you so you couldn't make up a new persona.

In the movie, a sentimental Moll wades through a heap of anachronisms. She remains more or less a prisoner of her past and conventional morality at all times. The movie claims that only the character and not the plot is based on Dafoe's book but it is tough to recognize any aspect of Dafoe's Moll here. Which I guess brings us back to considering the movie on its own terms. Imagine Titanic without the special effects (i.e., maybe a good movie for a 14-year-old girl).

Morgan Freeman uses his immense talent to give varied facets to Mr. Hibble, Stockard Channing is deliciously evil as Mrs. Allworthy, and Robin Wright Penn shines like a diamond in the role of Moll Flanders. Even the child playing Flora does a charming job with her limited part. Some viewers complained that the film was slow moving, but i felt the transitions from "modern day" to "flashbacks" from the memoir written by the title character kept things moving along quite nicely. Having not read Defoe's book, I cannot compare it to this version, but members here seem about equally divided between hating the movie for not being true to the book, and feeling that the changes made are an improvement on the original. Personally, I'd recommend this movie highly to anyone who has time to watch it.