The Tragedy of Macbeth Review
By: Nhan Phan
The Tragedy of Macbeth, produced by Oscar-winning husband and wife duo Joel Coen and Frances McDormand (Lady Macbeth), is a hauntingly beautiful rendition of William Shakespeare’s most famous play. With exquisite cinematography and an undoubtedly dramatic black-and-white theme, McDormand and Denzel Washington’s (Macbeth) performances bring about an almost magical yet psychological story about the corrupting power of unchecked ambition and tyranny to life. It is undoubtedly one of the most worthwhile watches of this year.
One of the biggest contributors to the gratifying cinematic experience of The Tragedy of Macbeth is the set design. Coen’s architecturally meticulous vision of the film’s setting provokes discomfort. For instance, the five collinearly-placed converging castle arches in a frame, when placed into the midst of a dark screen, looked like spearheads. Macbeth’s castle is then, instead of a medieval-era structure, a rectilinear modernist house with geometric courtyards bounded by walls and corridors that signify imprisonment. All of those small yet crucial design features foretold what was to come and certainly provided a striking modern touch to the movie.
An unusual choice that Coen and McDormand adopted was the use of the black-and-white filter throughout the entire play, as well as their choice to use a smaller than normal frame. These cinematic choices provided The Tragedy of Macbeth with the physical surrealist effect it needed. Bruno Delbonnel, the cinematographer, explained it best in an interview with American Cinematographer Magazine, saying, “We tried to reduce spaces to their purest simplicity, just like a haiku. We would ask, ‘What is a room?’ It’s four walls, a door, a window, and nothing else.”
The producers wanted to create abstractions using simplicity because it is harder to interpret the story through a black-and-white lens— it forces the audience to imagine the story. The black-and-white lens suggests certain visual ideas without fully completing them, and Coen wanted the audience to fill in the blank parts.
Producer and actress McDormand seemed born for her role as Lady Macbeth. McDormand entered the movie with her grim yet powerful voice, her emotionless eyes asserting authority over the scene, as well as expressing a relentless determination for a cause (in this case, to kill King Duncan). In Shakespeare’s original Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is a complex woman at a stage in life where she is stuck between pondering her life’s past, present, and future. She is seen as an ambitious woman, like Macbeth himself, who always taunts her husband towards reckless wrongdoing. However, McDormand’s portrayal of the character is more subtle, nuanced. She does not hyperbolically exude the energy of a wild-mannered wife. Instead, she is a cognitive, unexpectedly emotional character whose subtle actions, dispassionate facial expression, and speech is truly remarkable.
Washington had an equally impressive performance in this movie, providing a powerful, emotional, and daring version of Macbeth. One can feel Washington’s underlying ambition, anger and frustration in the tone of his speech: an earthy, dynamic-ridden voice that demands the attention of the audience. Washington’s Macbeth is quiet and equally psychological as Lady Macbeth, but ultimately succumbs to his greed and opportunistic nature. His depiction showcased the pursuit of power at all costs and the moral injury that follows as a powerful concept that beats at the heart of the play. The artistry and intelligence in his performance are on full display to make this concept the cause of his eventual downfall.
The Tragedy of Macbeth is the perfect rendition of Shakespeare’s original play, touching on the themes of moral responsibility and corruption caused by intense greed and anger. It will be a while until we see the same level of cinematographic artistry that’s on display in this piece. It sets the bar high for future Shakespeare movies— truly an amazing watch.
