Reviving Ophelia (film)

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]

Reviving Ophelia
Written byMary Pipher (book)
Teena Booth (teleplay)
Directed byBobby Roth
StarringJane Kaczmarek
Rebecca Williams
Nick Thurston
Carleigh Beverly
Kim Dickens
Theme music composerChristopher Franke
Edgar Rothermich
Country of originCanada
Original language(s)English
Production
Executive producer(s)Joel S. Rice
Producer(s)Steve Solomos
Running time92 minutes
Release
Original networkLifetime
Original releaseOctober 11, 2010 (2010-10-11)

Plot

It is Elizabeth Jones' (Rebecca Williams) 17th birthday. She is planning her party with her mother Marie (Jane Kaczmarek) and cousin Kelly (Carliegh Beverly) when LeAnn (Kim Dickens), Marie's sister and Kelly's mother, arrives late because of work. Elizabeth's boyfriend Mark Stenwyck (Nick Thurston), who is also 17, shows up, despite Marie's rule for the party to be limited to family. LeAnn admits it was her fault for being late, and Elizabeth leaves with Mark to see a movie. Kelly goes home to study for a test with her friends. After some leave Kelly's house, Austin stays behind, confessed he was starting to fall for Kelly, and kissed her. When LeAnn arrives home from work and catches Kelly performing a sexual act with Austin, she arranges for Kelly to stay at Marie's home when she is working that weekend. Meanwhile, as Mark and Elizabeth get back to Elizabeth's house, he wants to get a room the following night but Elizabeth has a scary movie night with her friends Amy and Lainie at Amy's house.

Mark gets angry because she didn't tell him about her plans, but is seemingly over it the next day. When they go to Mark's house during lunchtime so he can give Elizabeth her present, she looks at his picture of him and his mother. His mom had left when he was a child due to his father, Terry, abusing her. Elizabeth and Kelly get home and then to scary movie night at Amy's house. While Elizabeth and Kelly are watching a movie, Mark tracks Elizabeth down via her cellphone GPS and tries to make her leave with him. He only backs off when Kelly runs outside. On the afternoon while Kelly is watching Cody's band play at the park, Mark shows up and tells her it's the night they get a hotel room.

Later, at dinner, Marie and Walter will not let Elizabeth go out that night because she has to study for her chemistry mid-term. They also won't let her invite Mark over because they believe she is spending too much time with him. When Elizabeth is in her room texting Mark, Kelly comes in and tells her that she heard about Mark's ex-girlfriend Ashley Johnson and says she might be a "total psycho" after dating Mark (presumably copying his father's abuse). Elizabeth confronts her saying she's tired of her ragging on Mark and saying she's jealous that she has a boyfriend and Kelly doesn't. Later, Mark sneaks into Elizabeth's room through a window, but when Elizabeth tries to ask him about Ashley Johnson, he gets angry and leaves. After Kelly returns to the house after taking a walk, Marie confronts Kelly about "sneaking out" of the house. Kelly says that she saw Mark climbing out of Elizabeth's bedroom window, but Elizabeth says she is lying. Marie believes Elizabeth, causing Kelly to run off.

While LeAnn and Marie are discussing Kelly'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 (who is already by Elizabeth's bedside) tells them that Elizabeth wanted to go out and look for Kelly. 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 two weeks. However, she continues to secretly see him. Following this, he sneaks into her bedroom again and they have sex. Elizabeth continues defending Mark's behavior when asked, insisting that he loves her.

Mark becomes jealous of Elizabeth's interactions with Ty Benchley, a male classmate. 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. Kelly sees her bloodied face and walks her to the nurse's office. The principal tells Marie that Mark hit her, but Elizabeth is denying it by insisting that she fell. Marie does not believe her and forbids Elizabeth from ever seeing Mark again, but she refuses to follow this order and refuses to press charges on Mark.

Elizabeth starts to see a therapist and continues to deny any abuse while claiming Mark loves her. She pretends to break up with Mark, but continues to secretly 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 to escalate. Elizabeth receives a notification during school 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 (presumably Mark) has taken a picture of her, edited it, and posted it on Facebook as a joke. Elizabeth is shocked after seeing this.

In a therapy session, Elizabeth's therapist has her read aloud a list of signs of dating abuse, and Elizabeth 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 truly 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 (15 meters) away from her at all times, and Mark's abusive father is furious about the situation. Later, when Kelly and Elizabeth go to see Cody, another student at the school and Kelly's love interest, and his band play at a coffee shop, Mark shows up and pulls out a gun (possibly his father's), saying that he cannot live without Elizabeth and is going to kill her and then himself, and also threatens to kill Kelly 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 Kelly.

Cast
  • Rebecca Williams as Elizabeth Jones
  • Jane Kaczmarek as Marie Jones
  • Nick Thurston as Mark Stenwyck
  • Carleigh Beverly as Kelly Dunley
  • Peter Outerbridge as Walter Jones
  • Kim Dickens as Le Anne Dunley
  • Joe Dinicol as Cody
  • Jordan Hudyma as Austin
  • Lola Tash as Vicky
  • Rebekah Miskin as Lainie
  • Shanice Banton as Amy
  • Alyssa Schafer as nurse
  • Kim Roberts as Lindsay
  • Deborah Grover as Principal Miller
  • Jamie Johnston as Ty Benchley
  • Shane Daly as Terry Stenwyck

Awards and nominations
Year Award Category Person Result
2011 Gemini Award Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series Rebecca Williams Nominated
2011 Gemini Award Best Writing in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series Teena Booth Nominated

References
  1. "Reviving Ophelia Movie - Official Site". myLifetime.com. Archived from the original on 2012-08-18. Retrieved 2012-08-20.
  2. http://geminiawards.tribute.ca/
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