Shakespeare’s Tragic Heroine Gets to Tell Her Own Story in 'Ophelia'

William Shakespeare’s plays always provide rich fodder for the feature film industry, as every generation seemingly wants their own takes on the Bard’s most famous works. Often times, these leads to somewhat unconventional interpretations, in which main characters are gender-swapped, contemporary settings are used, or the plays are used to provide commentary on various modern-day issues.

Hamlet is the most frequently adapted of Shakespeare’s works, largely because every even remotely popular actor wants a crack at playing the character. From Laurence Olivier to Mel Gibson, Kenneth Branagh to Ethan Hawke, there are certainly plenty of takes on the Bard’s most famous character. (And that’s not even counting the stage versions. Or The Lion King.)

But there’s one character who almost never gets her due, no matter what production we happen to be discussing. And that’s Hamlet’s doomed love, Ophelia, who is often regulated to a simpering madwoman with little agency over her own life beyond the method of her death.