For most moviegoers, this Christmas will forever mark the awakening of the Force, but at independent cinemas across the country, those choosing to make an audience for Macbeth will see Michael Fassbender cross over to the Dark Side. For Justin Kurzel's Macbeth is nothing if not dark - every brutality, and every vicious, bloody, violent death is played and replayed (no off-screen deaths here, this one's not for the faint of heart); It is impossible to watch this version of the Scottish play and remain comfortable at any distance. Except, perhaps, for the scene in which a shirtless Fassbender emerges from a pond.
This is not the Scotland of Brave, nor does it feel much like the romantic Scotland of Outlander, but a dank, cold, green land heavily laden with mist and fog, accosted by wind, rain, and snow, burdened with mass graves and mysterious forces like the Weird sisters. Atmospheric and given a rich cultural context, Kurzel's exquisitely shot Macbeth sacrifices any comic relief to keep the story moving. It's slower than I would have liked, despite the aggressive battle scenes. Many of my grievances lie with the play itself, which features many characters lost in thought or rapt in their own minds. This means it's not the Scottish accent that makes the words unintelligible, but the whispering and hoarseness called for by many of the passages. Stage productions have found the need to minimize the use of this subtlety, but the intimacy of cinema encourages it.
In the title role, Fassbender is a physical Macbeth, a warrior first and always. One of my favorite performers since his incredible performance in Frank, it's impossible to ignore his physicality and the minutiae of his choices. While Kurzel's film is unlikely to find a place in English lit classrooms due to extensive text edits and violence, certain scenes are very likely to be referenced in acting classes. Act III, scene 2, in particular - having achieved the crown, Lady Macbeth would have her husband inhabit it, but the Weird sisters' prophecy eats away at the newly-crowned King. Cotillard is quite excellent as Lady M, tackling Shakespeare one Oscar and twelve years after her first English language role (in 2003's Big Fish). She is strongest as Lady Macbeth struggles to rein in her husband, whose instability becomes wildly apparent at a court feast. Cotillard is so strong, as a woman and as a character, I would have started Lady Macbeth's downfall a bit earlier than this film does. Macbeth's paranoia grows, and with it, Fassbender's domination of the role. A brief montage of Macbeth doing physical exercises in his room, steeling himself for the ongoing war he wages on the world, adds a dimension not often afforded to the King. Too many Shakespeare performances rely on the language, even in film, to convey the entirety of a character; Kurzel, in his film, does not. He has, however, allowed the screenwriters to arrange the text to their liking. Still, it's a worthy contribution to the Shakespeare cinematic canon.
In a role played by Orson Welles, Patrick Stewart, and Kenneth Branagh, Michael Fassbender proves his mettle and cements his standing as one of the top performers of our time. He is supported by the superb character actors David Thewlis (best known as Remus Lupin in the Harry Potter series) as Duncan, and Paddy Considine (featured in Simon Pegg's Hot Fuzz and The World's End, as well as the brilliant BBC\Netflix series Peaky Blinders) as Banquo. It helps to have the familiar faces at hand, to help differentiate the rugged, white Scottish guys running around. If anything, Kurzel's film rattles the dust off Shakespeare's play and thrusts the audience into the disturbing and depraved story at the core of it, resisting a neat resolution, right down to the last shot. It won't sit well with everyone, but those ready for more disturbing enactment of Shakespeare's devastating Scottish play will not be left wanting.
Notes:
- Two years ago, and in the same theatre (The Avon), I caught the National Theatre Live production screening of Macbeth, starring Kenneth Branagh and Alex Kingston.
- Macbeth is only the first collaboration of Kurzel, Fassbender, and Cotillard; Kurzel is also at the helm for Assassin's Creed, in cinemas 2016. Bonus: Assassin's Creed will also feature Brendan and Brian Gleeson. You can't see it, but I'm making a heart with my forefingers and thumbs. Gleeson family previously mentioned here, here, here, and here.
- French actress Elizabeth Debicki appears in Macbeth as Lady Macduff. She also played a lovely, languid Jordan Baker in Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby.
- From IMDB.com: "Before directing Macbeth (2015), [Kurzel] worked as a designer of a stage production of the play in which his wife played Lady Macbeth." I would have paid good money to see that show; Clearly, Kurzel has a hell of an eye, and he is married to Essie Davis, whom most will know from her leading turn in The Babadook, but I know best as Miss Fisher of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. I love her!
- For a superb and modern adaptation of a Shakespeare classic, I recommend Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing.
- At 3 am this morning, I realized that Disney's Beauty and the Beast features a quote from Macbeth in "The Mob Song." Lady Macbeth's famous line: "Screw your courage to the sticking place."
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