Macbeth
2021: Joel Coen

Joel Coen’s first directorial effort without his brother Ethan, this is an artistic tour de force and a kind of life project for his wife Frances McDormand, who recited one of Lady Macbeth’s soliloquies as a young student. It is filmed in an intense black and white; everything, including exterior scenes, was shot on a sound stage. The whole seems deeply artificial, and it certainly makes no attempt at a naturalistic presentation. Some may find that alienating; I do not. It manages to isolate the story and the diction in a surreal but focused way, and leaves the door open for some very intense performances.

Any production of Macbeth rides chiefly on the acting of its two principals, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Between them they have the bulk of the lines, and there are relatively few scenes in which one or another of them does not appear. Their power relationship has to be carefully sculpted if it is to be persuasive, and the chiastic exchange of power between them as the play goes on — where Macbeth becomes increasingly resolute, but loses all sight of his soul, while Lady Macbeth goes from an almost demonic temptress to a fragile shell of a woman — is fascinating in almost any production if it’s done at all well. This certainly is. Both of the two carry their roles well and intelligently.

There was at least one prominent reviewer who attacked Washington’s performance in Much Ado About Nothing by claiming that he had “phoned it in”: I didn’t find that true there, but no one could possibly make a like claim about this one. His delivery is august and restrained, to be sure, and his Macbeth has more dignity than many. Nevertheless in that restrained exposition of the character, he manages to include significant nuance, and his performance is well worth watching and studying.

Frances MacDormand has created a wide variety of characters throughout her career, many of them appealing and lovable (like her role as the sherrif in Fargo). Here she is cold, hard, and fiercely intelligent. Her persuasive force against Macbeth, leading him astray step by step until he’s ready to murder his king and benefactor, is credible if dismaying. She’s always a pleasure to watch, even when the part she’s playing is not one you’d like to know.

Of the secondary actors in the piece, some may recognize the (surprisingly trim) Harry Melling in the role of Malcolm: many will remember him as the tubby and self-absorbed Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter movies. He carries the role perfectly plausibly.

The script is certainly somewhat cut, which is always regrettable, especially in a piece as lean as Macbeth, but it is ample enough to maintain the organic flow of the story. I’m not sure that I’d recommend this as a first Macbeth for anyone, especially given its stylistic severity and mannered delivery, but it stands up very well indeed on multiple viewings, and deserves consideration.