Gently Down the Stream

Ophelia (2018) was another library impulse. I didn't expect we'd get around to watching it, but Ms. Spenser wanted me to put it on (because she had to work and didn't want something on that would distract her). It is basically a retelling of Hamlet from Ophelia's viewpoint. 

It starts with Ophelia floating in a lily pond, mimicking the John Everett Millais painting that was on all of our dorm room walls in the Pre-Raphaelite 70s. In voice over, Daisy Ridley lets you know that you may think you know the story, but she wants to tell it her way.

It starts with motherless child Ophelia running around wild in Elsinore, but her father Laertes gets her a post as lady-in-waiting for Queen Gertrude (Naomi Watts), to the disgust of the other ladies. She meets Hamlet, and they start getting close, but he has to go back to school. Then the king gets killed, by Claudius (Clive Owen) etc., etc.

The main difference between this and Shakespeare's version (aside from the dialog being modern or a modern paraphrase of Shakespeare)  is the addition of a witch (also played by Naomi Watts). She supplies Gertrude with stay-young potions (or dope, it's hard to tell), and also the poison that killed the king. But she also has one of those looks-like-you're-dead potions. Ophelia takes that and goes swimming, which explains how the movie continues after she should be dead. 

I have to say, I enjoyed this, but mainly for the sumptuous look - beautiful people in fancy clothes in classy castles is hard to beat. So as not to disturb Ms. Spenser, I kept the sound down low, so I missed a lot of the dialog. I don't think that was a problem.