Direction:
Justin Kurzel
Script:
Jacob Koskoff, Michael Lesslie, Todd Louiso
Photography:
Adam Arkapaw
Music:
Jed Kurzel
Costume
design: Jacqueline Durran
Genre:
Drama, Art house
To make a
film about Macbeth that has been made in several occasions (Welles, Kurosawa,
Polanski, etc.) it can reasonably be assumed that it will have a new
contribution to the cause or at least a breath of r fresh air. We cannot say
that the Australian director Justin Kurzel has not tried so noble an aspiration
and there are interesting and surprising new values to be appreciated in this
film, but we must say that his objective has not been completely achieved at
all.
The
production is really fascinating: the open spaces of Scottish landscapes, the
fog effects in which the witches appear and the soldiers disappear in the
intensity of their fights, the camera resources (slow motion, canted shots,
etc.) the impressive lighting and the realistic costumes accompanied by a
dramatic music, compound a remarkable piece of art, a powerful visual
machinery.
On the
other side, we have an unarticulated plot, absolutely lacking in rhythm, in
which we have to guess several times
what has really happened, when a ghost is a ghost and not a real person and how
the evolution of the different
characters is, particularly Lady Macbeth (Marion Cotillard) and Banquo (Paddy
Considine). Probably, the problem rests in how to combine these different
worlds such as drama (defined by convention and words) and cinema (defined by
realism and images). We also can see
that in the dialogues in which there is “Shakespearian” excess.
Obviously
all these elements affect the acting. Macbeth (Michael Fassbender) goes very
quickly from being an implacable warrior to an ambitious politician and from there
to a poor mad king tortured by guilt and fear. The performance has strength in
some scenes but is not brilliant. The tone is monotonous, extremely steady and
murmuring. Where is the connection, the passion, the empathy for his wife? Lady Macbeth has an impressive magnetism in
the first shots (and a good accent too, considering she is performed by a
French actress): beauty and nastiness; but we can’t see this magnetism towards her
husband or her evolution from being an ambitious and manipulative woman to a
desperate one who commits suicide (By the way, how does she do it?) Her best
moment is at the coronation dinner, where she takes the power and dignity of the
crown in front of the king’s delirium.
In
conclusion, the proposal is interesting because it tries to show a modern view
on a classic Shakespeare drama that happens in the early middle ages, gathering
two of the most attractive and reliable contemporary actors, but the result, in
my opinion, is a little bit disappointing, mainly considering the potential
achievements one might have expected of these elements.
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