Ophelia

Premiered at the Sundance Film Festival January 22,2018

A Claire McCarthy film

Plot

A re-imagining of "Hamlet” that focusses on one it’s characters, Ophelia.

Blaine: Author Lisa Klein is a school teacher and she would teach Shakespeare a lot in class. Lisa has always loved Shakespeare and her students shared the love with her. Most of the students were curious to know who Ophelia is in William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” because there's not much about her. Things like marrying Prince Hamlet and drowning to death are major for a character who is not around a lot in "Hamlet". Lisa Klein herself was curious to know who Ophelia is and she decided to write a story that was all about Ophelia. The most important thing for Lisa was to honor William Shakespeare in developing this fictional story based on his characters. Lisa really got sucked into the project and spent so much time with her thoughts in thinking about who Ophelia is, what her backstory should be, and maybe she faked her own death. Lisa Klein thought of everything for this story.

Shortly after Lisa’s novel was published, producers came to her asking if they could adapt “Ophelia” into a film and Lisa was excited about that because that would be continuing to take Ophelia to the next level and showing who she is. It took a while though and Lisa was asking if the film was ever going to get made. By 2016, things were starting to come together. The reason “Ophelia” took so long to be transformed into a film was because it needed the right people to bring it to life from the screenwriter, to the director, to the leading actress. Screenwriter Semi Chella loved Lisa Kelin’s novel and it was thrilling for her to read something that is a re-imagining based on one of Shakespeare’s stories and showing more of who the character, Ophelia, is. Semi knew she had to adapt the novel into a screenplay because she was in love with the story and she had an urge to do this.

It was important that the film be directed by someone who knew Shakespeare just as much as Lisa Klein and that was Claire McCarthy. Claire is a fan of Shakespeare’s work, “Hamlet” was her favorite out of him and Claire got so hooked to Semi Chella’s screenplay while reading it because it was showing “Hamlet” from Ophelia’s point of view and showing Ophelia more as a main character. A project like “Ophelia” couldn’t have come at a better time for Claire because this is a time where a lot of women are being recognized for their talent in directing. Claire thought it was awesome that she would get an offer to direct a story with a female lead who is strong spirited. Claire had a blast in making "Ophelia". One of the things that was important for Claire, besides showing a story with a great female lead, was also making sure “Ophelia” had a great look to it from the cinematography, to the sets, to the costume designs and the makeup. Claire worked very close with her team in order to achieve the perfect look for “Ophelia”.

I love the colors of Daisy Ridley’s Ophelia from her red hair to her teal green dress. Everyone knows of Daisy Ridley for starring in the new “Star Wars” movies and Daisy is good at giving her characters strong. Daisy was an obvious choice for Ophelia and Claire thought Daisy could make Ophelia as strong as Rey. Daisy is lucky enough to be apart of a popular franchise that became the highlight of her career and more luck was coming her way when she was offered “Ophelia” because it was being directed by a female director. A lot of female directors are spreading out these days and Daisy wanted to have the chance to work with one. Daisy shows how strong of woman Ophelia is. Ophelia’s job is being one of Queen Gertrude’s handmaidens and the other handmaidens make fun of Ophelia a lot, but she doesn’t let them get to her because like I said she is strong spirited. Ophelia also feels capable of handling herself. It looks like Ophelia doesn’t worry about anything.

Ophelia has always been positive about herself and she knows what is best for her in life. Hamlet asks Ophelia to marry him and she agrees without putting thought into it first because the both of them have know each other since they were kids and Ophelia knows her feelings for Hamlet are strong. And for Hamlet, there’s no one else he wants to be with than Ophelia. He can’t even take his eyes off of Ophelia because she is the most beautiful thing to him. Ophelia even makes him smile.

At the beginning when it shows their childhood, it shows Ophelia defending Hamlet and he appreciates her for doing that. And Hamlet has been there for Ophelia, even though she feels she doesn’t need any help, but still it’s sweet of him. Ophelia and Hamlet have a secret marriage, which reminds me of the secret marriage between William Wallace and Murron in “Braveheart”. Ophelia and Hamlet work well together in a lot of things. They put on an act to convince everyone else that they aren’t married. They even speak in this secret language. Of course not every one is fooled.

Hamlet’s uncle, King Claudius, is very observant and knows there is something going on between Hamlet and Ophelia. Hamlet wants to have a life with Ophelia and the only way to do that is to run away from the Kingdom. They were supposed to leave right away, but something came up. Ophelia discovers that the King’s death was no accident. The King's brother Claudius, poisoned him and Ophelia finds the bottle in his clothing. Ophelia becomes a threat to Claudius because she knows his secret, so he has an arranged marriage set up. But Ophelia is already married, so she can’t marry someone else. Ophelia means the world to Hamlet, but his father meant a lot too and Hamlet wants to honor is father by killing Claudius. Hamlet wants Claudius dead before Ophelia and him run away, but they can’t stay in the kingdom any longer because Ophelia is being forced into marriage. On the day of the wedding, Ophelia knows she will never marry the man she is forced to be with. Ophelia has a plan that always works out. And like I said Ophelia doesn’t worry about anything because she believes she can be convincing when it comes to lying and putting on an act. Ophelia goes to the river and pretends to have drown.

Ophelia is not the only female the story focusses on. A lot of actresses are loving that women are rising to power both in front of and behind the camera and Naomi Watts is one of them. Naomi is happy to be living in an era where there is a lot of projects being directed by women and like Daisy Ridley that was the reason she wanted to do “Ophelia”. The other reason was to play a queen. Naomi plays two characters in “Ophelia” and they are twin sisters. One is light and the other is dark. Neither one is the evil twin. The number one thing they both have in common is they want to make a stand.

Gertude is the Queen and even though she’s a woman in charge, still she doesn’t have complete power.There are times where Gertrude can’t express herself in front of her husband, the King, or Claudius. Gertrude has mixed feelings about Claudius. Claudius kisses Gertrude and she can’t find the strength to stop him. When Gertrude is around women, that’s different. She feels at ease. Gertrude wishes she could be more on the inside. Gertrude wishes she could be more like Ophelia because Ophelia has no trouble standing up for herself and speaking out what’s on her mind. Gertrude has been very fond of Ophelia, ever since Ophelia was a child. At one point, Gertrude does think Ophelia is dangerous because young Hamlet looks like he is putting himself in danger by wanting to kill Claudius. But Gertrude could never hate Ophelia because she respects her too much.

It’s like she is trapped. But when Gertrude is around women, that’s different. She feels at ease. Gertrude wishes she could be more on the inside. Gertrude wishes she could be more like Ophelia because Ophelia has no trouble standing up for herself and speaking out what’s on her mind. When Gertrude saw Ophelia for the first time, as a child, she saw herself. Gertrude is very fond of Ophelia, ever since Ophelia was a child. At one point when Gertrude does think Ophelia is become dangerous because Young Hamlet looks like he is putting himself in danger by wanting to kill Claudius. But Gertrude could never hate Ophelia because she respects her too much.

Mechtild is an outcast. Mechtild was in a romantic relationship with Claudius once, but he turned against her and said Mechtild was a witch. Mechtild was pregnant with Claudius’ child, but something happened to the baby. Mechtild was sentenced to death, but she drank something that would make it look like she was dead. People were convinced Mechtild was dead and when the close was clear, she ran and made a new life for herself out in the forest. Few know Mechtild is still alive, like Ophelia. Ophelia followed in Mechtild’s footsteps by playing dead.

“Ophelia” is well shot. There’s a lot of great silhouette shots, some are warmer than others. There are a couple of shots of the castle with the sun rise behind it. There’s other shots with the sun hitting the camera. They always had to wait for the sun to be in the right position for each shot they did. I also love the green of the grass and everything that is nature in “Ophelia”. There are shots that are foggy. During the scene where Claudius kisses Gertrude, it shows a shot of Daisy Ridley because Ophelia can see them through the window from the outside. Daisy is a distance away and you see her through the window. My dad says it’s a good shot mostly because of the way Ophelia is staring at them. When the King dies, it shows an overhead shot of him and one of the things that is cool about it is the time laps over the deceased king and the outside of the castle. The shots that focus underwater when Ophelia pretends to drown are murky.

If Claudius wanted the truth about him killing King Hamlet to be kept secret he wouldn’t be carrying that bottle with poison around. But maybe Claudius has other people he wants dead. Claudius certainly knows how to make enemies. Claudius has made enemies out of Mechtild, Hamlet, Ophelia and now Gertrude. It's a miracle for Hamlet to see his love, Ophelia, alive after hearing she drowned. Hamlet still has one thing left to do and that is kill Claudius. Hamlet doesn't want Ophelia to stick around, he wants her to be as far away from the kingdom as she can be in order to be safe. Hamlet ends up getting killed for trying to take Claudius' life. Young Hamlet meant everything to Gertrude and now that he is dead she has had enough. Gertrude finds the strength to finally make a stand. Gertrude grabs Hamlet’s sword and puts it straight through Claudius’ chest. Shortly after that, Mechtild shows up with an army and they attack the kingdom.

Hamlet dies and Ophelia lives, but you can’t believe she lives the rest of her life without something to remember Hamlet, like a baby. And wouldn’t you know, Ophelia has a daughter in the end?! The film ends with a backlit shot of Ophelia and her daughter they are outlined. And then it cuts to an aerial shot which pans from a cliff and as it rises shows them and a mountain behind and then pans further up to only cloud.

My rating on “Ophelia” is five out of five stars.

Music by Steven Price