Macbeth – Film Review by Frances Winston

Director: Justin Kurzel

Writer: Jacob Kosoff; Michael Lesslie; Todd Louiso; – adapted from play by William Shakespeare

Starring: Michael Fassbender; Marion Cotillard; Sean Harris; David Thewlis

Even if you have no interest whatsoever in Shakespeare you are probably familiar with the story of Macbeth. The roles are completely iconic and there are few who haven’t heard of the power hungry soldier turned king who falls foul of his own greed and madness and his pushy wife. I myself am very familiar with the play having once appeared in it but even if I hadn’t I think I would be fully aware of it.

The eponymous character has been played by some of the greatest actors through the ages and a bit of Shakespeare certainly lends gravitas to a CV so it’s no wonder Michael Fassbender agreed to take on the lead role, despite the fact that he will be compared to everyone who has gone before him. Tackling the part of Lady Macbeth is Oscar winner Marion Cotillard and the supporting cast reads like a who’s who. Obviously a big name cast guarantees bums on seats but with such a tradition behind it they have a lot to live up to.

Director Kurzel has tried to put a fresh spin on this oft told tale but perhaps he should have stuck to the old “if it ain’t broke” adage as his “changes” do not always work. Firstly I’m pretty sure that Shakespeare would take umbrage at the fact that it claims to be “based on” his tale and that the screenplay is by Todd Louiso, Jacob Koskoff and Michael Lesslie. Since every line of dialogue in this was actually written by the Bard I would think disassociating him from it is not the smartest of moves.

Secondly the biggest stumbling block for most actors doing Shakespeare is the language. While his words may seem flowery to the untrained eye it is in fact written almost like a musical score and needs to be treated as such. Unfortunately the actors here treat it like contemporary dialogue. This really affects the pacing and the intent behind the words. They aren’t helped by the fact that some of the most iconic sequences have been cut out or seriously tampered with. Even the opening scene featuring the weird sisters has been changed.

The infamous “out damn spot” speech makes little sense in the context it is used here and, without spoiling it, they throw in an image at the end that feels almost like an afterthought in order to try and help the audience understand it. Framing Lady Macbeth almost as the Madonna doesn’t work either and merely distracts from the true meaning of the scene. Equally the “is this a dagger I see before me scene” is poorly handled and several additional visual scenes which are intercut with the iconic dialogue simply don’t work.

Done properly you should be able to follow any of Shakespeare’s plays just through the words but if I had no knowledge of Macbeth or what was going on I think I would have been somewhat confused by this visually stunning but poorly executed offering. If you know anyone studying it for Leaving Cert I would advise them to avoid this production. I am all for putting your artistic stamp on something but here Kurzel has lost a lot of the sense of the play. If you take it as a brand new work and not a classic piece both Fassbender and Cotillard give good performances and it often works. However if you are looking at this as a retelling of the story for a contemporary audience it is supremely disappointing.