In the 21st century there is much debate on the relevancy of Shakespeare in our cultural society. Employing such names as Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard, did this much-anticipated adaptation of Macbeth serve to raise or ruin Shakespeare’s cinematic profile?…
Originally written for the haunting, candlelit intimacy of the Blackfriars Theatre, it is hard to imagine Macbeth on a cinema-scale screen without picturing Harry Potter-like witches and replicas of Mount Doom towering over Scotland’s hills. Australian director Justin Kurzel manages, however, by removing from his scenes, the gloomy oppression of the stone castles which characterised late 20th century Shakespeare on screen. Instead, the film’s more intense moments are brought down into intimate, and more appropriately medieval, tents and huts and delivered to us through close-up camera angles which reinforce the play’s anxiety and strained relationships.
Throughout the film, the intricacy of these scenes is juxtaposed by some of Scotland and northern England’s most fierce and untamed landscapes, providing, for those with a fondness for powerful panoramas, two hours of dynamic and captivating scenery.
This brutal cut of Shakespeare’s text plays on Macbeth’s fixation with prophesy, removing much of the mysticism surrounding the witches and giving the Thane’s hallucinations distinctive similarities to those of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Alongside this modern interpretation developed the character of Lady Macbeth, often demonised as the cruel, witch-like woman, questioning her husband’s manhood and manipulating him into murdering his dearest friends. The adaptation of the script and the direction of Kurzel, however, brings to the role a vulnerability and to its audience sympathy that previous films and productions have rejected. The striking opening, which features the Macbeths burying their son, not only provides an answer for the textual issues of Shakespeare’s play, but brings the issue of their childlessness to the forefront. Nuances expressed by Cotillard’s performance enforce the fragility of Lady Macbeth, who seeks the throne for her husband in a desperate attempt to alleviate the bitterness and grief of losing a child.
Macbeth provides modern audiences with an intriguing view of one of Shakespeare’s greatest anti-heroes. Kurzel deals with contemporary issues while keeping intact the grit and ferocity of the original script. This, combined with some interestingly-placed racy scenes and the compulsory topless shots of Fassbender, make for an exciting and challenging adaptation of this powerful play.
Rating: 8/10
Author – Joe, Bath store
