Reviving Ophelia (film)

Reviving Ophelia
Written by Mary Pipher (book)
Teena Booth (teleplay)
Directed by Bobby Roth
Starring Jane Kaczmarek
Rebecca Williams
Nick Thurston
Carleigh Beverly
Kim Dickens
Theme music composer Christopher Franke
Edgar Rothermich
Country of origin Canada
Original language(s) English
Production
Producer(s) Steve Solomos
Running time 92 minutes
Release
Original network Lifetime
Original release
  • October 11, 2010 (2010-10-11)

Reviving Ophelia is a 2010 Lifetime Original Movie starring Jane Kaczmarek and Kim Dickens.[1] The title is a reference to the non-fiction book Reviving Ophelia. The film, which was produced by Muse Entertainment and shot in Toronto, received two Canadian Gemini Award nominations: Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series (Rebecca Williams) and Best Writing in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series (Teena Booth).[2]

Plot

When LeAnne Dunley arrives home from work and catches her daughter Kelli performing a sexual act with a classmate, she arranges for Kelli to stay at her sister Marie's home when she is working. Kelli notices that her cousin Elizabeth Jones is in an abusive relationship with her boyfriend, Mark, who experienced abuse as a child. While Elizabeth and Kelli are watching a movie at friend's house, Mark tracks Elizabeth down via her cellphone GPS, and tries to make her leave with him. He only backs off when Kelly runs outside. Another night, after Elizabeth tries to ask Mark about his ex(who, according to Kelli, became a "total psycho" after dating Mark), he gets angry and leaves through a window. After Kelli returns to the house after taking a walk, Marie confronts Kelli about "sneaking out" of the house. Kelli says that she saw Mark climbing out of Elizabeth's bedroom window, but Elizabeth says she is lying. Kelli runs away.

While LeAnne and Marie are discussing Kelli's whereabouts, Marie receives a call that Elizabeth is at the hospital. Marie is unaware that Elizabeth had even left the house. At the hospital, Mark tells them that Elizabeth wanted to go out and look for Kelli. He swerved to avoid a dog and, as a result, Elizabeth hit her face on the dashboard of his car. When her parents leave, Mark apologizes to Elizabeth for losing his temper and hitting her. Elizabeth is grounded for leaving the house and ordered not to talk to or see Mark for 2 weeks. However, she continues to see him. One night, he sneaks into her bedroom through her window and they have sex. One day at school, Kelli sees Mark hit Elizabeth in the schoolyard and runs to tell Marie, but ends up not saying anything. Elizabeth defends Mark's behavior and insists that he loves her.

Mark becomes jealous of Elizabeth's interactions with Ty Benchley, a male classmate. Elizabeth's grades begin to drop because of her relationship with Mark. While running through the school hallway to meet up with Mark, she accidentally drops her homework. Ty helps her pick it up. Elizabeth looks up and sees that Mark has been watching her the whole time. She runs outside and tries to tell Mark that she is not flirting with Ty, but he punches her in the face and walks away. Kelli sees her bloodied face and walks her to the nurse's office. The principal tells Marie that Mark hit her while Elizabeth denies it, insisting that she fell. Elizabeth starts to see a psychiatrist and continues to deny any abuse while claiming Mark loves her. She pretends to break up with Mark but continues to see him, and will not be honest about any of her injuries for fear that police involvement will ruin Mark's life. Her parents are concerned, and Mark's abuse continues and escalates. Elizabeth receives a notification that a photo of her has been tagged on Facebook. The photo is of her with blood running down her face while saying "Wherefore art thou, Romeo?" Someone has taken a picture of her, edited it, and posted it on Facebook as a joke. Elizabeth is shocked after seeing this.

In a session with the psychiatrist, Elizabeth reads a list of signs of abuse on the psychiatrist's computer and recognizes Mark's behavior in all of them. That night, Mark calls and demands to know why she isn't answering her phone or text messages. She finds him waiting for her in her room and tells Mark that their relationship is over. He refuses to accept it, threatening to kill himself and wrapping his arms tightly around her. He says he won't let go until she takes him back. She yells for her parents and he bolts out the window as her parents come in. Mark sends her a text message that says she doesn't deserve to live.

Elizabeth and her parents obtain a restraining order against Mark, who must now remain 50 feet away from her at all times. Terry, Mark's abusive father, is furious about the situation and threatens to beat up Elizabeth's father, but Mark and Marie break it up. Later, when Kelli and Elizabeth go to see Cody—another student at the school—and his band play at a coffee shop, Mark shows up and pulls out a gun, saying that he cannot live without Elizabeth and is going to kill her and then himself, and also threatens to kill Kelli for ruining everything. After Elizabeth talks Mark into dropping the gun, the police show up and arrest him.

Elizabeth is later found by her mother in the kitchen, baking cookies for Kelli, who then helps Elizabeth cook them.

Cast

References

  1. ↑ "Reviving Ophelia Movie - Official Site". myLifetime.com. Retrieved 2012-08-20.
  2. ↑ http://geminiawards.tribute.ca/
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