Macbeth Review

Ageless Power

♦ Tripwire reviews Macbeth, new to DVD and Blu-Ray and starring Michael Fassbender

Macbeth

Director: Justin Kurzel

Stars: Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, Paddy Considine, Sean Harris

Arguably Shakespeare’s most accessible and produced play, Macbeth has always been a tour de force of blood, anguish and creepy mysticism on the silver screen  – the original horror story, by turns gaudy and bleak, schematic and human. Other directors, notably Roman Polanski, gave it the gothic treatment, whilst Ian McKellen’s version was dystopian.  Justin Kurzel’s take on the Scottish Play is suitably visceral yet understated – Fassbender’s Macbeth a woad-covered force of nature in battle, undercut subtly and incrementally  by events. The film, which does veer a little from the source, is bleak and rustic, but is no less atmospheric than Polanski’s more melodramatic nightmare. Fassbender’s performance of course makes the movie, his portrayal a far more tragic, sympathetic one, despite his ruthless machinations. From the moment he approaches the three witches (decidedly not snaggle-toothed crones!) he is doomed, gradually eliminating his comrades in arms, notably Banquo, played with no small panache by the ever-dependable Paddy Considine. Even Marion Cotillard’s Lady Macbeth seems less icily detached than previous incarnations, and far more a victim of misguided ambition and unforgiving circumstance.

Also impressive are David Thewlis as Duncan, the betrayed king, and Sean Harris as Macduff,  Macbeth’s nemesis. Kurzel’s expansive, cinematic approach rarely strays into darkness (the key exception being the murder of Macduff’s wife and children – a grim scene that is laden with horror, but not gothic) – this is more about the ancient land that encompasses events, shrouding the protagonists not in darkness but hazy sunshine and mud. Fassbender’s Macbeth is just another victim of this untamed nature, but he retains some kind of integrity here, even after his descent into madness and ensuing battle with Macduff. The climax, a satisfyingly bruising finale set atop a rolling moor, sees our anti-hero cut down, reduced to a mere divot in the landscape. Perhaps this version is less lyrical than previous ones, opting for straighter drama and eschewing the usual tropes. But it’s certainly no less powerful, thanks mainly to Fassbender, who surely deserves a gong or two for inhabiting the role so well.

ANDREW COLMAN

Macbeth www.tripwiremagazine.co.uk

Macbeth [DVD]