![]() Visual and aural motifs, deriving from the text, include flights of ravens, echoing footsteps, the coalescence of dripping blood and water. Bruno Delbonnel’s black-and-white cinematography and Stefan Dechant’s design eschew realism: the Macbeths inhabit a brutalist castle whose long perspectives suggest a de Chirico painting. With Coen’s stunning new Macbeth, we are into a different world. But, with its real castles, its shots of horses galloping across beaches and its sense that the Macbeths are handsome ciphers, it feels more like a costume epic than an imaginative exploration of Shakespeare’s play. There are several things to like about this movie: the mocking laughter with which Macbeth and Banquo greet the Witches’ predictions, the elevation of Ross into a slippery traitor, the final hint that the killing of kings is a cyclical process. That same verbal hiatus appears in Roman Polanski’s 1971 film where Jon Finch and Francesca Annis again handle the language with kid gloves. ![]() Photograph: Allstar Picture Library Ltd/Alamy Five seconds later Lady M finally gets round to replying: “We fail.”Ĭostume drama … Jon Finch in Macbeth (1971), directed by Roman Polanski. “If we should fail?” asks Macbeth of the projected murder of Duncan. But, put bluntly, the film seems terrified of Shakespeare’s language: Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard as the Macbeths speak in hushed, conversational tones and insert pauses between each line that would make Pinter blush. There is no denying Kurzel’s visual sense: we get epic battles and seductive shots of mist-wreathed Scottish landscapes. ![]() But, after viewing four versions that stick closer to the original text, I am intrigued to see what they tell us about the filming of Shakespeare.Īlthough it got rave reviews and has some original touches – such as opening with the silent burial of the Macbeths’ child – I was least impressed by Justin Kurzel’s 2015 film. Parallel versions range from Akira Kurosawa’s magnificent samurai epic Throne of Blood to a low-budget film noir from the 1950s, Joe Macbeth. ![]() It has obvious attractions: it is short, atmospheric, confronts the nature of evil and is open to adaptation. W ith Joel Coen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth streaming and in cinemas, I am struck by the way this particular Shakespeare tragedy acts as a magnet for movie-makers. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |