Movie Review: Daisy Ridley Dazzles as The Not-So-Tragic “Ophelia”

Ophelia Movie Review

Don’t Doubt It. Claire McCarthy’s Revisionist Take on Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” is Fire. 

Duels to the death, scheming family members, ruthless power plays, and torrid, forbidden romances. Well, how about adding a wood-dwelling witch attuned to the fine art of healing (and poisoning) a clever maiden that defies the damsel in distress trope, and a Queen Mother willing to get. shit. done. when push comes to shove?

Welcome to Shakespeare unlike you’ve seen him before. Welcome to Ophelia--a revisionist, feminist, and hopeful take on the bearded bard’s most famous, and bloodiest, play, Hamlet.

In medieval Denmark, young Ophelia (Mia Quiney), a scrappy, motherless, and a perpetually muddy-cheeked little girl moves to her kingdom’s city with her courtier father, Polonius (Dominic Mafham, C.B. Strike), and her studious brother Laertes (Calum O’Rourke). The willful and outspoken girl quickly wins over Queen Gertrude (Naomi Watts, Twin Peaks) and is offered a home at Elsinore Castle and a highly esteemed position as one of the Queen’s ladies-in-waiting.  

As she grows from rambunctious child to a dignified woman, Ophelia’s (Daisy Ridley, Star Wars: The Last Jedi) bookishness and preference for simplicity set her apart from the vain, petty, and judgmental ladies who also serve Queen Gertrude at court. With a lowborn father, flowers tucked in her cascading cinnamon-colored tresses instead of jewels, and the favoritism Gertrude bestows on Ophelia, the heroine is an easy target for the spite, malice, and bitter vitriol spewed by Cristiana (Daisy Head, Harlots) and the other women serving the Queen. 

While Laertes (Tom Felton, Harry Potter), a brilliant scholar in his adulthood pursues his own education in France, an all glowed up Prince Hamlet (George MacKay, Marrowbone) returns to the castle with eyes only for Ophelia. What the lovestruck Dane doesn’t see is that the Queen Mother is one--miffed about her husband, the King, ignoring her, two-- grappling with the anxiety that comes with a woman aging in a patriarchal society, and three-- has the hots for his sleazy uncle, Claudius. 

To spare a complete recap of Shakespeare’s play, the intrigue and betrayal are cranked up to fever pitch when King is “bitten” by a “serpent” in the middle of the night, promptly dying and leaving his kingdom without a ruler….until Claudius sliiiiiiiides right in, claiming the crown, and a new wife in his sister-in-law/Hamlet’s mama, Queen Gertrude. 

Ophelia breathes new life into the tragic heroine, who has always been relegated to the moody Danish prince’s side piece, more an accessory than a human being, in Hamlet. In this film Horatio (Devon Terrell, Barry) isn’t the lone survivor in the kerfuffle of poisoned blades, Norwegian invasion, tainted wine, and avunculicide. In this revisionist and feminist take, Ophelia is an empowered heroine who uses her wits and resiliency to escape Denmark and the same fate of her beloved Danish prince. Anything but tragic, Ophelia’s perspective is one that’s thoughtful and grounded. Even while she falls into a storybook romance with Hamlet, she doesn’t lose herself to her feelings.  

Although Ophelia may at first seem passive, watching the betrayals from behind curtains and tucked out of sight in the castle’s shadowy corridors, her keen eyes and mind cobble together a plan to break free from the toxic and tangled web of lies and the white-hot rage and thirst for revenge and power that drives Claudius, Hamlet, and Laertes. Her self-restraint is key as the men around her, drunk with power in the case of Claudius, hungry for revenge in Hamlet’s case, and blinded by fury in Laertes’s case, rage across the screen like emotional tornadoes.

Daisy Ridley carries Ophelia with quiet courage, integrity, and an agency that’s refreshing to see in a heroine in a romantic drama and period picture. Her understated performance shows that her acting chops go far beyond blockbuster science fiction heroines in galaxies far far away.

Unfortunately, MacKay and Ridley don’t quite fall into a whirlwind romance that’s the same caliber of that in the play, and the chemistry between them is wan and uneven. 

Fortunately, Ophelia’s spectacular sound design, soundtrack and striking visuals more than make up for MacKay’s and Ridley’s unremarkable chemistry. Academy Award winning composer Steven Price (Gravity)’s score is elegant, inspired, and fierce. Just google “To Lose Himself in Vengeance” to get a sense for the LIT instrumentals combined with the ethereal, and emotionally rousing chorus, “Doubt thou the stars are fire /Doubt that the sun doth move/Doubt truth to be a liar/ But never doubt I love." which is a  play on the letter Hamlet writes Ophelia in Act 2, Scene 2 of the play. 

Along with its substantial narrative, lavish costuming, and gorgeous editing (especially the show-stopping opening sequence, which is, in short, breathtaking), Ophelia soars. It’s unafraid to take creative liberties and go beyond a mere direct page to screen adaptation with the extra attention it gives to the women characters. Ophelia addresses the often unspoken invisibility and sexlessness of aging women. In the character of Gertrude, the film skims the surface of the double standards between Gertrude and her “distinguished” and “wise” male counterparts without losing focus or straying from the narrative at hand. It’s a purposeful side plot that gives more context to the Queen’s questionable decision making, before her ultimate redemption in the final scenes of the film. While in Mechtild (Naomi Watts in a dual role), a character created exclusively for the film, Ophelia prods at the problematic history of eccentric and nonconformist women, often nature-loving outsiders, being accused of witchcraft and punished ruthlessly for it. 

Interwoven with its magical soundtrack, Ridley’s emotionally stirring performance, art-house cinematography, and overwhelmingly stunning landscapes Ophelia is a thrilling and darn near intoxicating revisionist and feminist take on a tragically underserved and undervalued heroine. It’s a movie that won’t soon be forgotten.

& as always, STAY GEEKY!

💖 Vicky