Female Film Critics 24/375
Much analyzed and, according to many, much misunderstood, Ophelia has always been one of Shakespeare’s most enigmatic characters. With Ophelia, director Claire McCarthy and screenwriter Semi Chellas aim to demystify Hamlet’s lady love, turning her into a smart, fully fleshed-out woman with spirit and agency.
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In this two-part Cinema Junkie podcast, Beth Accomando focuses on the female perspective in film by speaking with the director of programming at Etheria Film Night as well as the director of the new film Ophelia and the author who created the young adult book about seeing Shakespeare’s Hamlet” through the eyes of a young woman.
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The genius of William Shakespeare has been a bottomless well of inspiration for creators down through the ages—flexible enough to absorb all manner of revision, from modern dress to modern English, and timeless enough to speak to successive generations with the common language of the human heart. Novelist Lisa Klein published Ophelia, her revisionist take on Hamlet in 2006, and now director Claire McCarthy and screenwriter Semi Chellas have brought her vision to the screen.
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Reexamining classic texts from a different perspective, particularly minor or neglected characters, is an enticing idea fraught with possibility and peril. Tom Stoppard’s absurdist play,
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead looked past Hamlet to the bit players. But what about Shakespeare’s women? Kudos to director Claire McCarthy and to Semi Chellas who adapted Lisa Klein’s young adult novel, for having the imagination and guts to take one of Hamlet’s most under-explored characters, the tragic Ophelia, and put her center stage.
Like the classic tale, this thrilling reinterpretation explores themes of love, romance, melancholy, loss, madness, treachery and revenge set against a terrifying backdrop of court intrigue involving powerful, competing forces. The headstrong Ophelia, groomed at an early age to serve as one of Queen Gertrude’s trusted ladies-in-waiting at Elsinore Castle, must learn how to cope with the jealous machinations of her co-workers as well as the affections of a passionate young prince destined to ascend the throne.
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Set in 14th century Elsinore, this Ophelia (Daisy Ridley…a.k.a. Star Wars Jedi) says to forget everything you thought you knew and watch as she relates her revisionist perspective on the tragedy, adapted from Lisa M. Klein’s YA novel by screenwriter Semi Chellas and Australian director Claire McCarthy.
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Across her filmography, Australian filmmaker Claire McCarthy returns with unwavering commitment to the intersection of female experience, spirituality and trauma, revealing on screen a signature style that makes her take on Ophelia to be one of the most highly anticipated releases of 2018.
Currently in production in Prague, here’s a first look at director Claire McCarthy’s Ophelia, starring Daisy Ridley. Set in the
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