Ophélia

Yvan Lesurf cannot bear that his mother married his uncle Adrien soon after his father's death. One day he watches Hamlet and starts to believe his own life matches the play exactly. He accuses his mother and his uncle of murder, declares the gardener's daughter his Ophelia and tries to force everyone around him into the script. Claude Chabrol directed and wrote it with Paul Gegauff. Andre Jocelyn plays Yvan and Alida Valli plays Claudia. Jean Rabier photographed it. It opened on 6 February 1963 and runs 103 minutes. The box office was a disaster: between 6,000 and 8,000 admissions in Paris. The reviews divided. Nora Sayre in the New York Times called it equally boring and pretentious. Jonathan Rosenbaum later called it an underrated and unsettling early work. Chabrol's own verdict was inconsistent: he once called it execrable, then said he liked it although it was not quite what they wanted. Who it is for: viewers curious about early Chabrol and films built on a literary reference. Who it is not for: anyone who wants to spend time with the lead. Yvan is self-satisfied and insufferable throughout, and the film means him to be.