Daisy Ridley stars as Hamlet’s crazy ex-girlfriend — or maybe she wasn’t crazy after all? — in “Ophelia,” a sumptuous retelling of the story from her point of view, with a decidedly more feminist bent than the Bard saw fit to give it. Based on Lisa Klein’s novel and directed by Claire McCarthy, things don’t really get good until the king dies (i.e., when “Hamlet” starts), but then it’s fun to see how the movie adds details to the familiar story that change our perception without contradicting Shakespeare’s version.
Until it does start contradicting, that is. When the film goes bonkers and starts revising the tale, the effect is campy — probably not what McCarthy intended, but enjoyable nonetheless. With mildly hammy performances by Naomi Watts as the queen and Clive Owen as Hamlet’s treacherous uncle/stepfather, it would have been better if it had either been over-the-top the whole time or stayed serious throughout. Uneven though it is, anyone familiar with “Hamlet” (and you’ll need to be) should get a kick out of it.
B- (1 hr., 54 min.; )
