Ophelia

Ophelia

This is one of those “let’s get a famous story from a different angle” type scenarios; in this case, it’s Hamlet’s doomed lover, Ophelia played by Daisy Ridley. She is the narrator and central character, and yet she is peripheral to her own story. All the elements that make Shakespeare’s Ophelia an intriguing, tragic character have been boiled out of this insipid version and, by extension, all the other characters who are interpreted through her dull, un-insightful lens.
George MacKay is a tiresome, wimpy Hamlet. Clive Owen does his best not to twirl his moustache with a cliched villainous  Claudius. Dominic Mafham is somewhat endearing as Ophelia’s father, Polonius.
The one saving grace with the character who really should have been central is Naomi Watts in a dual role as sisters Gertrude and Mechtild. She is utterly engaging on screen and her sister characters have a story that could have spawned a movie series.
The sets are beautiful and authentic with attention to detail that has gone to waste, unfortunately.
Go back to the original.
★★
 
Reviewed by Rita Bratovich

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