Ophelia, an updated version of Shakespeare's Hamlet, is a far better adaptation of the play than most of the treatments that attempt to present the play in its original form. All aspects cinematography, script, superb casting, and especially the music that punctuates throughout capture the futility of vengeance that underlies Shakesphere's theme. The Chabrol gets his cast to act appropriately melodramatic to fit into this gothic/noir treatment without ever going over the top and becoming unbelievable. The screen adaptation by Chabrol and fellow Nouveau Vague Noir specialists: Martial Matthieu and Paul Gégauff keep the dialogue sparse and filmic as good Vague should be. The lead, André Jocelyn, has that creepy yet sensitive charm of America actor, Anthony Perkins. Andre's character, Ivan, directs the film within the film and in effect is playing Chabrol in his own film (another fine filmic touch). Claude Cerval, the guilt-ridden uncle, gives a masterful performance in character development. The rest of the cast is well worth mentioning but I'm out of time. I do want to salute Pierre Jansen for his affective and sparing musical score. It sets the tone of each changing emotion. Catch the silent film within film accompaniment and the discordant character development when our protagonists first meet.

After the death of his father, the weirdo Yvan Lesurf (André Jocelyn) believes his mother Claudia Lesurf (Alida Valli) and his uncle Adrien Lesurf (Claude Cerval) have poisoned him since they got married to each other. Completely disturbed and insane, the cruel Yvan decides to make a film based on Shakespeare's Hamlet to expose the wealthy Claudia and Adrien to their friends in their community. He also calls his sweetheart Lucie (Juliette Mayniel) Ophélia in a tragedy foretold.

"Ophélia" is a minor film by Claude Chabrol inspired by Shakespeare's Hamlet. The plot is weird, with subplots that go nowhere such as the factory strike, and not well developed. There are also strange characters, such as the mentally handicapped security guard and the joyful gravedigger. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Ophélia"

Ophelia is not one of the best Chabrol films but its still entertaining; It has some of the charisma of the early nouvelle vague films such as breathless and 400 blows but lacks the personality of those as the characters in Ophelia , especially the lead are shallow and sometimes redundant. I just wish Chabrol didn't forget about the whole strike subplot, i think it would've been interesting to see the relationship between Ivan, Adrien and the workers.