Reviews & Ratings for
Reviving Ophelia (TV) More at IMDbPro »

13 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
Not bad at all, 17 October 2010

Author: monkey_kelstar from United States

For a TV movie, this was pretty good. Though I don't have any experience with these kinds of situations, it seemed realistic. It was also very intense and pretty creepy at times. I actually felt myself becoming frightened for the different characters from time to time.

I also learned quite a bit from this movie. I don't think I'll easily forget the signs that one is in an abusive relationship, or what to do if I suspect someone else is in one. I definitely hope I never make the same mistake that Lizzie did, though, and I hope a lot of people won't, after they see this.

All in all, the acting, writing, and directing were all above average for this movie, and I would recommend it.

5 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Reviving Ophelia-Shakespeare in Battered Love ***, 15 October 2010

Author: edwagreen from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Jane Kaczmarek does a fine acting job as the deeply troubled mother of a teenager who has fallen in love with a physical abuser. It's basically the same old story about a guy who saw his mother abused when he was a child and is continuing his ways.

Kaczmarek is the same mother who finds fault with her niece's involvement as well as the break-up of her sister's marriage troublesome but is unable to recognize what her daughter is experiencing first hand. Both she and her husband are intelligent, thoughtful parents but were unable to see what was really going on until the situation escalated.

Apparently, teenage battering has become a major problem and this film aptly showed it.

3 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
Excellent Movie but Overbalanced Towards the Feminine, 23 May 2012
Author: Rob Riches from Ontario, Canada

This is one excellent movie. The characters have been stretched from real life people towards easily recognizable stereotypes that create an emotional tension which invites audience participation (what would you do?) and which heightens the issues and of teenage infatuation, 'love' as ownership, being overly agreeable as an unworkable position, and the traps that girls fall into by caring too much (among others).

The writers were women, so the characterization of the female characters was outstanding, but they clearly don't understand the emotional conflicts experienced by males (who does, actually?), so the male acting was unpotentiated which, if it had been with more emotional beef would have made this a first class movie.

I liked it., 25 August 2012

Author: saifsattani from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

When people say this movie was good "for a Lifetime movie" they mean it. There's a lot of substance to that statement since Lifetime network's films are so cookie-cutter that everyone comes back for another piece. But "Reviving Ophelia" was seriously different. The story focuses not only on the girl being abused (and reluctant to reject the relationship) but also a second character who has her own share of troubles, difference being that this one has the clarity to realize that her cousin needs help.

Rebecca Williams is really, really great as Elizabeth (aka "Ophelia"; Shakespeare reference) because of how real she seems. The kind of viewer I am, I get mad at characters who, say, allow themselves to get abused and STILL stay in the relationship; but Williams's portrayal made sense and made me understand what some women endure.

I don't reread books or re-watch movies but for some reason I DVR'd this flick and watched it again. Definitely watch if you're into a drama w/ a solid plot and believable characters/actors.

Overall good, but I did have a problem with it, 28 May 2011
Author: vgrace01 from United States

I HATED the way that Kelly and her mom were treated by Lizzie and her mom. It was obvious from the start that Lizzie thought she was better than her cousin and her mother thought she was better than Kelly's mom. Several references to this throughout the movie. And through it all, Kelly was still kind to Lizzie and her mother was still kind of Marie. Even when Marie said that she must be happy to learn that her daughter (Lizzie) is even more screwed up than Kelly, Kelly's mom didn't say anything. Sorry, but you don't treat family like that. The rivalry between the girls I can understand, but between their mothers? Too much for my taste.

Also, the actor who played Mark wasn't the best actor.

Other than that, I thought it was a good movie, an important one.

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