Lady Macbeth (2016) Reviews

• Lust and loneliness

  rubenm2017-04-17

  If I were the producer of this film, I'd have chosen a different title. I'm sure lots of moviegoers are going to be misled: this film has nothing to do with Shakespeare. It's an adaptation of a novel by the Russian author Nikolai Leskov, set in early 19th century England. The film seems to be a pre-feminism manifesto for women's rights. It shows Katherine Lester, the submissive wife of a wealthy but abusive landowner, living in a secluded manor in the British countryside. During a prolonged absence of her husband, she rediscovers her freedom and starts an affair with one of the stable boys. Not willing to give up her newly acquired status, she starts a series of increasingly extreme actions. The interesting thing is how Katherine evolves from victim to culprit. She seems to have learned from her husband how to use and misuse power. The lack of social conscience of which she at first is a victim, becomes a driving force for her own behaviour. Her selfishness and lack of morality is so extreme that, in the end, she betrays innocent servants. The viewer has to shift his allegiances: at first, it's impossible not to sympathize with Katherine, enjoying a free life without her heartless husband. But halfway through the film, it becomes clear that Katherine is just as heartless, as soon as she is in power. The story is filmed in a very effective, sober style with beautiful cinematography. The lack of any music is remarkable: some elongated scenes are striking because of the silence. The oppressive atmosphere in the manor is emphasized by the camera work. The camera repeatedly shows scenes from exactly the same viewpoint. Four or five times, we see the servant Anna entering Katherine's bedroom in exactly the same way. As much as 'Lady Macbeth' is about gender, it is also about class. It is striking that Katherine, who as a woman is considered a lower form of human life by men, herself considers the servants to be a lower form of human life. She shamelessly uses them for her own purposes and enjoyment, but doesn't care at all about their fate afterwards. 'Lady Macbeth' is a beautiful film, about issues that even nowadays are worth thinking about. But I would have named it 'Lust and loneliness' - after all, it's set in the same period as the Jane Austen novels.

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• Superbly Well-Made, Chilling Period Drama

  bastille-852-7315472017-07-24

  This small independent film from the United Kingdom is an astonishing portrait of the bleak realities of how Scottish culture viewed class, race, and (especially) gender in the nineteenth century. The film does this without ever needing to be preachy or overtly politically correct. It is very dark and rather disturbing, and it will get under your skin--but it is brilliantly made. It is the best film of the year so far. It should also, however, be noted that this film is not an adaptation of Shakespeare's "Macbeth." Rather, it is an adaptation of a Russian novel about a woman who begins to exhibit deranged behaviors after being forced into an arranged--and loveless--marriage. Despite using minimal set pieces and little music, the aesthetics of this film are truly sublime. They add to the simple feel of the film, rather than the extravagant sense of many period dramas. The costume design is also simple rather than outlandish or flamboyant. Once again, this makes the film feel realistic and tense, rather than removed from reality. The film's cinematography is top-notch as well, reflecting the dark tone of the film in its entirety. Florence Pugh is exceptional in the lead role as Katherine. Despite the actions that her character commits in the second half of the film, she manages to generate sympathy while still portraying herself as a twisted individual--almost an impossible trick to pull off. But what elevates this film to utter brilliance is that it is not solely a defense of her--or a defense of anyone. Rather, it is simply a unique reflection on the notion of social status at the time period that skewers all preconceived notions of judgment--including morals and morality--to the point of ambiguous analysis. The film's true messages are quite complex, even though its direct plot is not difficult to follow. This is why even simple, dialogue-free scenes such as moments when the camera stares at Katherine's face as she is seated, tell you so much about her as a character and her mood to a degree that I have not really seen in any film of recent memory. Such complexity, though, is what makes the film an unforgettable watch. (Of course, the uniquely simple look and feel to the film and its excellent, slow-burn-style pacing also contributes greatly to it.) Recommended to the highest degree. 10/10

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• Excellent story telling - beautifully acted and directed.

  choonmixer952017-05-04

  I was enthralled by this movie from start to finish. The cinematography and sound were excellent. The complete absence of a music soundtrack except for two notable atmospheric crescendos added to the overall oppressiveness of the story and the location. All of the performances were excellent and the lead was outstanding IMO. The story was in many ways familiar - being evocative of Bronte and Hardy - with its portrayal of Victorian country gentry and the brutality and sense of entitlement that sometimes occurred between the classes but the way the story unfolded frequently surprised me by not following through in the way one might have expected it to. I too would recommend a cinema viewing in order to get the full effect of the landscape and the oppressive silence of the house.

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• What a ruthless woman will do

  Gordon-112017-08-23

  This film tells the story of a young woman who is sold into a loveless marriage with an older wealthy gentleman. She has a passionate affair with a servant of the house. The promise of a happier life eludes her, until she takes full control of the situation. Initially I thought the film was really about Macbeth's wife, but I soon learn that it is not the case. The title comes from the similar ruthlessness and cold bloodedness that the leading woman and Lady Macbeth have. It is engaging to see how Katherine transforms from a timid woman into a sociopathic woman who will stop at nothing to get what she wants. The pacing is a little slow, with artistic shots lasting 10 or even 20 seconds but does not really help story telling. Overall, the story is good and Katherine's character is very interesting.

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• Nonsensical, vacuous and masturbatory

  peter-stead-740-4869632017-05-10

  There is a scene where Katherine's new husband tells her to strip and face the wall while he masturbates to her form. This seems to be the perfect image to describe how the filmmakers approached this project. As ever, no blame can be apportioned to the actors. Florence Pugh does indeed have a strong presence and the others are good also. Beautiful cinematography, direction and so on. But the writer makes a series of badly thought-through and badly realised choices. It starts with the way Alexander and his father, Boris treat Katherine with such mindless cruelty, but with no indication as to why - whether from their own history, or from the culture of the area or the period. It seems like a hastily constructed plot device to give an explanation for Katherine's later actions and so it proves. It seems they do occasionally take a break from being bastards, in Alexander's case to attend to a colliery explosion. The father departs for reasons I can't remember, but it seems equally convenient and equally disconnected from anything that might resemble a believable world beyond Katherine's interior life. I say interior life - she simply sleeps during the day. Then comes one of the most baffling scenes I've seen in a long time. She stumbles across her husband's employees in the commission of what must be a gang rape of the maid, one that is clearly intended to inflict considerable additional humiliation - they are in the process of weighing her naked, as though she were a 'sow'. An instant connection sparks between her and the man who appears to be the instigator when she asks what she would weigh. He then picks her up mockingly in a fashion I find totally unbelievable, because for him to treat her like this in such a class-structured society would undoubtedly have had serious consequences for him. This is then taken further when he enters her room later and what looks like an imminent rape, becomes sex. There is then simply a lot of sex - with no character development for either of them and no indication of how their relationship transforms them. At this point, I could not believe it was only roughly half an hour into the film. It was clearly a drama, but there was no psychological complexity of any kind. The father returns first and of course continues his berating of her - still no clue given as to why he is that harsh - a character seemingly tasked with only one thing to do over and over again. She starts to fight back, subtly at first, but this suddenly turns into his murder out of the blue. There's a big gap in her transition from abused daughter-in-law to murderer, but it's glossed over. The husband then returns and reveals he knows all about her 'whoring'. Things don't end well for him as you can imagine and the lovers stage what looks like a robbery/murder out in the woods. Again, out of the blue a woman appears, with a child she claims is Katherine's husband's illegitimate offspring. The child of course is murdered - but this time in the most laughably incompetent way. None of this seems to attract much attention - remember, according to her husband news of her 'whoring' had reached him on the other side of the county - but then the death of his father, his own strange disappearance and the subsequent death of the illegitimate boy does not bring a lot more attention, not to mention legal heat, joining all three of those dots? Ridiculous. It's rounded off with Katherine's lover trying to come clean. It backfires in that he is hauled away, but Katherine is able to talk her way of trouble. Jump cut to the cart taking him in shackles with the maid. In the entire film there was a total lack of character development and simply implausible choice after implausible choice in a series of scenes that seemed not to last more than a minute, but with multiple beautiful, languid but self-indulgent shots. The film presents itself as a stylish window into the raw passion of humanity but it is actually humanity it totally lacks, focused as it is around a character who is either a born or created monster - by the end we don't care which. Don't be suckered in by the trailer. This is not Wuthering Heights 2.0.

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