Ophelia: The Evolution

[Mohnaaa]

I must say, I've seen Helena Bonham Carter and Jean Simmon and Julia Stiles as Ophelia and I must confess, I love Stiles' perfomance most of all...

Furthermore, I'd prefer the 2000 Hamlet over the others, not in acting, the all did it so well, but I was blown away by the creativity of transferring it into modern terms...

....very thoughtful true and wonderful piece of work!

[dannielleyful]

ugh the modern hamlet is horrible....

[Hertzenuni]

My favourite Ophelia is Anastasya Vertinskaya of the Soviet version. She is one of the most beautiful women in Russia. However, her performance has sometimes been criticized as somewhat cold and artificial, although I suppose that was the director's vision of Ophelia as a doll. But the mad scene is really moving, "I cannot choose but wheep" when I watch it.

Helena Bonham Carter is very differen from her, but perhaps she is more true to life and more mad, so to say. I like her as well.

[JonLynnHarvey]

Good but ought to include Jean Simmons and Lalla Ward as well

[JonLynnHarvey]

Good but ought to include Jean Simmons and Lalla Ward as well

[hole1991]

From what I've seen of these interpretation, Helena Bonham Carter is the one I've liked the most, because she didn't overplay the craziness too much and she pretty much stole every scene she was in.

Kate Winslet...I haven't really seen except for her madness scene and she was good at disturbing me, so I give her credit but I prefer Helena's interpretation.

Julia's version...I've never seen it but I'd take a chance on it if I found it, because I do like her as an actress.

[jecabeann]

The 1996 version of Ophelia is one of my favorites, and Kate's Ophelia is just marelous. Intense. She perfectly portrays both the sweetness and craziness that Ophelia is supposed to have.

[csm1025]

Julia Stiles was great as Ophelia. The part of Hamlet 2000 where she gives the "flowers" and sings is my favorite part of the movie! Ophelia is in Leartes' arms and she cries as she says "I would give you some violets... but they withered all when my father died."

[ceirrajbuell]

i think i like helena bonham carter... she plays these kind of roles so well and she got the crazy down perfect...

[sabrinajoan]

helena is epic [:

[AnneFrederick7]

Great job !

[CF1975]

Helena Bonham Carter and Kate Winslet both gave a very different interpretation of Ophelia, They were both very good, but Bonham Carter moved me me much more than Winslet did. Maybe because she plays it less dramatic than Winslet. BC's Ophelia seems really to be convinced of her own sanity.

I never saw the Ethan Hawke movie, but judging by these clips I am definetely not going to.

[NirvanaBabe89]

i loved kate winslet as ophelia. it could just be because that was my favorite version of hamlet, i thought kenneth brannagh was amazing. i fell asleep watching mel gibson charge about...

[Sylfira]

Helena sang very well in that movie! Now I know why she played in Sweeney Todd.

[razjk]

Kate Winslet and Helena Bonham Carter are my favorite Ophelias.

[BluRingedOctopus]

Oh Ethan Hawke is so hawt! but he's only really good in Gattaca (well the only good mocie i have yet seen him in.) I like Helena Bonham Carter better as Ophelia but I think Winslet had the tougher task (I mean, her manic scenes were intense!!!) I have never liked Julia Stiles.

[MelancholyNorweyan]

HBC wins, hands down.

[Budaphly]

omg the one wit kate winslet is epic! she's so talented. reely innovative portayal of ophelia while bonham was very conventional and did a great job also. I hated the modern version of Hamlet tho. Hamlet just can't be modernized and have the same quality, whereas romeo and juliette was very easy to pull off. julia stiles overacted ophelia and had such a monotone, boring tone to the character.

[MI2VA2MI]

who plays the hamlet in The modern one? and what other movies is he in?

[laybackspin87]

Ethan Hawke. He's been in a ton of stuff. I thought he was good in Taking Lives. He was also in a modern version of Great Expectations.

[cudgalactica]

Wow! Helena's an excellent Ophelia

[QueenChickie]

It's kind of funny that a modernization of Romeo and Juliet gets great reviews and one of Hamlet gets poor ones. I wonder if it would have been the same if DiCaprio played Hamlet?

[AlannaBanana32]

The modernization of Hamlet was just like a cheap knock off of Romeo + Juliet. DiCaprio was an excellent Romeo, Ethan Hawke was a terrible Hamlet. Far too overacted.

[goodbyeSong]

oh my god the one with Ethan Hawke and Jilia is so bad. sorry for those of you who like it and i respect you opions but i really think its terrible i like the on with helena Bonham much better. WAY BETTER actually she fits the role pecfectly and i think i shouls cause i just got done reading Both Hamlet and Ophelia the story of hamlet in ophelias point of view by lis lkein

[softcelltainted22]

i didn't like the ethan hawke one too much either but i thought they really had some great ideas for the modernization (i.e. the bugging device for act III scene 1)

they ended up falling short though. they cut too much and for no reaosn that i could find.

helena bonham carter was a GREAT ophelia, oh my god!!!

[dannlynch]

I'm embarrassed by Ethan Hawke's Hamlet. not just him but the whole thing. bad idea!!!!!

[AyoCaptainJackk]

um, did anyone actually see the movie with julia stiles? before you put down her portrayal of the character after seeing a minute of the movie, you should really watch the movie, or at least the scene where she goes insane and gives out pictures of flowers before she commits suicide. some of the best acting i have EVER seen. i didn't really like the movie, but she was great, like always.

[Bikerboy1137]

whats up with that modernized one??? what a way to ruin a classic. best version i think is mel gibsons. that one was the most amazing hamlet i ever seen

[leeshore]

the one with julia stiles is terrible lol

[imbeingsirius]

Kate is awesome, the entire 1996 Hamlet is the quintessential version.

It leaves nothing out, changes hardly anything.

Helena is goof too, though.

[prettyalchemy]

There simply is no screen portrayal I have ever liked of Ophelia save Helena's. Having played her twice myself I have to say, I find hers the most familiar.

[kevnar]

Helena Bonham Carter gives me chills every time. Every other performace is just acting. Carter *is* Ophelia. She definitely stole that show.

[jadorebabyjane]

helena bonham carter is perfect

she's an amazing actress

definitely the best

i love her

[darlingzooloo]

I prefer both Helena and Kate over Stiles.

[Ginger1022]

I believe that is everyone's opinion. I have yet to meet an educated person who prefers Stile's portrayal of Ophelia to Bonham's or Winslet's. However for the class I felt I needed the range of interpretations of Ophelia... and Stiles' has an out there one...

[darlingzooloo]

Yeah, I definatly think there are many ways one can 'play' Ophelia, so I think you made a good call. ^_^

[Tigerlily21]

as much as I love Kate Winslet I have to say Helena Bonham carter is the best. But in that Kate Winlset sequence if you just take that part out and single it out it makes it look bad. lol. You have to see her entire performance as a whole and how much it fits not single that part out where she's going mad.

[fleuurdw]

Oh whoops, that was Kate Winslet.

Totally wrong pitch for me.

[fleuurdw]

Who the hell was that Ophelia in the white straight-jacket and cap thing?

Total crap.

Helena Bonham Carter is perfect.

[AcademyAwardsGirl]

Shame this wonderful montage was ruined by Julia Stiles's stale acting. Yuck.

[Ginger1022]

I'm sorry I wanted as many "takes on Ophelia" as I could get and in Ethan Hawke's Hamlet Julia portrays a very obedient yet very emotionally disturbed however not insane Ophelia. just a torn young heartbroken soul

[FantasmaLuna666]

Honestly, I despise Franco Zefferelli because his films seriously lack debth and creativity to me, but Helena Bonham Carter plays the perfect Ophelia! She has the frailty and eccentricity that is needed for Ophelia and she did the mad scene PERFECTLY!

[poisondoll13]

Helena Bonham Carter by far has the best portrayal of Ophelia!

Her madness is true, and you can see her inner torment. She is real, not how it is often dramatized to be by actresses like Kate Winslet. The scene with Bonham Carter is truly heartbreaking, and in my view, that is how it is meant to be. Kate Winslet's version seems somewhat of a mockery and although Julia Stiles is a talented, the modern day version lacked a romance somewhat that all Shakespeare's plays hold. Too cold.

[CF1975]

@poisondoll13 : I could not agree more. The modern Hamlet (Ethan Hawke) is painfully awful.

[FoolishGames1995]

I liked Julia Stiles' mad scenes the best, especially the flower distribution. And the fountain that she downs in was awesome, I only wish I could have gotten to see it, as it was destroyed on Sept 11.

[msinvincible2000]

Kate winslet is the best Ophelia....

[may3ct]

~~Awesome movie~~ *s*

[Stormyie]

The problem is, you don't know WHAT shakespeare intended...Actually, I think that that sort of sexed-up would have been quite to his taste.

[mastshke]

Sexed up? my friend, shakespeare's play's consisted of sexual innuendos. When he says "may I lie my head in your lap? you know what that ment? it meant that only a man who laid his head in a womens lap is the woman he had sex with....its even in Romeo and Juliet.

[perfectmistake4]

Mel gibsons version is definatly the best!

The version with Kate Winslet was too sexed up in the mad scene, shakespeare didnt intend for it to be that way

its interesting to see how the different directors interpreted the script.

[Ginger1022]

yes they'd slept together many times you see it in flashbacks...the movie is 4 hours long and they have to keep their audience's attention. lol

[BelleandBeast07]

How many movie versions of 'Hamlet' are there?

[Ginger1022]

to many to count. i used 3 different ones. Mel Gibson's, Kenneth Branaughn's, and Ethan Hawkes's.

[BelleandBeast07]

I didn't even know that there was an Ethan Hawke version.

[Ginger1022]

yes its set in NYC in 2000. Denmark is a business corporation. Its different. Hamlet is very very very emo in that version.

[BelleandBeast07]

Well, in Kenneth Branaughn's version, Did Hamlet and Ophelia have an affair before she went crazy?

[juttezak]

Yes, it that is made clear during Ophelia's crazy songs

[Xaltiel]

woah kate winslet's part was freakoooo!!

[emrcn84]

o my god