This article may be a bit spoilery as I describe a few scenes. Please make sure to be okay with that before continue reading.
I still can’t believe I had the incredible chance of seeing Ophelia during Deauville Festival. It’s directed by Claire McCarthy and filmed in 2017. Daisy Ridley plays the main part, Ophelia.
The movie opens with a soft lake scene, Daisy lying in water, surrounded by flowers. She fades in it as the title appears on screen. It’s beautiful. Daisy Ridley is ethereal and her long red hair suits her beautifully. She portrays a playful, youthful and rebellious Ophelia who likes to swim in lakes, put flowers in her hair and knows a lot about sciences and philosophy. As the movie starts, you admire the soft cinematography and you witness the beginnings of a love story between Ophelia, Gertrude‘s (Naomi Watts) lady in waiting and Gertrude’s son, Hamlet (George MacKay). But the air is full of mystery and madness slowly sinks in the atmosphere. Ophelia and Hamlet live a passionate (secret) love story together, but his father’s death and Claudius’ (Clive Owen) possible guilt slowly drive him mad. Ophelia takes the lead to her story and tries to make her way out of a dying realm.
Daisy Ridley and Naomi Watts’ alchemy is palpable and their scenes together are amazing. I also liked a lot Daisy and George’s scenes. The cinematography from the start to the end is mesmerizing, with strong colors and lovely shots, as well as the music. You can also hear Daisy humming two or three times and she sings a bit during one scene. This is definitely her most complex role yet. You can see her crying, kissing, singing, getting angry, feeling desperate and also being broken. Her costumes varies between blue, beige and red colors and I absolutely loved the party scene, as Daisy is wearing a dress with complex patterns of suns and stars, wearing suns in her hair and heavy deep blue makeup forming a ‘band’ on her eye line.
Ophelia is definitely my favorite movie featuring Daisy yet and I deeply hope it will be picked up. Claire McCarthy‘s work is beautiful and if dialogues and storyline are not the strongest ever, the tale is well told and magic happened.