LFF 2021: The Tragedy of Macbeth
LFF 2021While Shakespearean motifs have filled the filmography of Joel and Ethan Coen, The Tragedy Of Macbeth is the first film within said filmography to attempt at adapting Shakespearean text directly and, additionally, stands as the first film for the foreseeable future that Joel Coen directs solely without his brother at his side, or involved at all within a production.
Nevertheless, The Tragedy Of Macbeth is a marvel of production and craftsmanship, finding Joel Coen curating Shakespeare in a world from Maurits Cornelis Escher. The landscape and scope is a labyrinth and maze of endless corridors and vast monuments of emptiness – no doubt a conscious element to covey the internal weight and emptiness of the titular characters' grief and ultimately slow but assured descent into madness. Throughout, the image looks spellbinding and immersive in a tremendous level of detail, especially given that each frame is shot on a soundstage with nothing shot on location.
Coen's film is thunderous in a brooding atmosphere with an outstanding level of craft on offer with elite sound design/mixing from Peter F. Kurland and score from Carter Burwell, as well as production design from Stefan Dechant with a sleek enigmatic dream landscape captured in a stunning precedent from the director of photographer Bruno Delbonnel. In each corner of production, it is hard to argue against that this feature is arguably the strongest and most impenetrable Coen film ever made in the context of the cinematic craft. There is so little here in terms of trivial issues or elements that are detrimental to the overall experience.
Writer-director Joel Coen does not hold back on the idiosyncrasies and adapts the image from the page. If such a stance would be pushed, there are a few ADR issues present with cuts back and forth showcasing mouths not moving with speech being delivered, yet this is ultimately never something that becomes overly damaging to proceedings. However, the main obstacle for immersion and accessibility is indeed the material at hand. Coen adapts Shakespeare's work with the utmost brevity and authentic stance. Meaning this is not a romanticisation or stripped back approach to the dialogue and themes. In turn, this crafts a somewhat harsh screenplay that does not want to let up in its riddle and rhyme. Granted, it echoes the enigmatic and mysticism that surrounds the tale and offers repeated viewings of layered substance but those who want a plain sailing experience will be drastically undercut.
While it is undeniably inaccessible for significant mass audiences, those who are swept up in the thematics will find something wicked most indeed – delivered in a gentle and intoxicating approach from the lead performances in the titular character from Denzel Washington (his first on-screen attempt of the infamous Macbeth story) and Coen's literal and on-screen muse in academy award winner Frances McDormand (her ninth collaboration with her husband), who both craft a bubbling brooding ferociousness that demand the screen.
The demise and descent are appropriated quite quick on-screen, nevertheless, said demise is echoed and curated in a dark embellishment and fury from Washington, who is utterly tremendous on screen. The actor encapsulates this sense of charisma, pity, yet harrowing substance intertwined together for a foreboding and wholly efficacious curation of the titular character. McDormand's Lady Macbeth is the venom in Washington's ear, and her portrayal is an equally as exquisite descent into grief and panic, brought forward in a layered and stirring portrayal with the actress putting forward stunning monologues.
Yet even in Washington and McDormand's powerhouse performances, the enigmatic character and performance of actress Kathryn Hunter steal the show with a visually atmospheric performance. To discuss further in detail would be to reveal too much in terms of substance and surprise, but each time Hunter is deployed on screen – with the help from Delbonnel's cinematography – curates such a spellbinding albeit frightening and terrifying character, with the actor’s skill a powerful and outstanding technique to propel the themes and weight of this story ten-fold.
It may be too much of a push for Joel Coen's first singular feature to enrapture a mass discourse in a public audience. However, it no doubt has a chance with the academy award conversation regarding cinematography and performances with Washington and McDormand leading nominations. More important is the trajectory in which Joel Coen himself follows after this feature. Undoubtedly, his partnership with his brother will be sorely missed, but with this feature looking, sounding, and crafted in utter perfection, it is hard not to be excited for the endless possibilities coming forward.
