The Tragedy of Macbeth

Joel Coen goes solo for the first time with the giddy combo of William Shakespeare, Denzel Washington and his wife.

The name of William Shakespeare does appear in the credits here as one would expect, but rather surprisingly it follows a statement declaring that this film was written and directed by Joel Coen. Some may laugh at that, but in the event this latest screen version of Macbeth is essentially loyal to the original play notwithstanding the incorporation of a few extra lines borrowed from King Lear. If it is contrary to expectation to find Joel Coen making a film without his brother Ethan, it is also the case that one would never have anticipated that such a work would be a screen interpretation of a classic play. However, Joel’s wife, Frances McDormand, who has a producer’s credit here, had played Lady Macbeth on stage so it makes perfect sense that she and her husband should offer a screen treatment in which she reprises that role now playing opposite Denzel Washington as Macbeth.

The result is a film that works well and which should appeal equally to those who always welcome Shakespeare on film and those who are unfamiliar with Macbeth and are drawn in by the actors or as fans of the Coens. What Joel Coen gives us is a fascinatingly individual hybrid in that his film echoes stage productions while also being essentially cinematic. Intent on making this an intimate film, he opts for the old, tight ratio of 4:3 and chooses to shoot this ancient tale in black-and-white thus fitting in with a visual style which not only recalls the Shakespeare adaptations by Orson Welles but often features touches that echo silent cinema. At the same time Coen pays great attention to sound ensuring that the words come over clearly so that we appreciate them at their full value and using natural sounds and music to enhance the mood and the drama.

As a study of one man's quest for power, the violent acts entailed in it (properly violent here) and his ultimate defeat, Macbeth is a story with strong dramatic force and a topicality that never seems to die.  Coen’s take on the play concludes on a dramatic note which, building on theories about the identity of the third murderer never disclosed by Shakespeare, points to this being a tale destined to repeat itself. In terms of success and failure, the most fascinating aspect of Coen’s film is the way in which stylisation is handled. Sometimes it is deliberately avoided, as when the dagger which Macbeth sees in his mind’s eye is left as his hallucination and is not seen by us. Ignoring fully realistic settings and using instead partial sets to represent the castle interior works well as does the decision to avoid real backgrounds in exterior scenes and to present trees in a manner akin to a backcloth. These halfway-house measures prove effective but some stylisations work less well because they seem too self-conscious (for me such moments include the way in which Kathryn Hunter is shown as she represents all three witches, a scene of leaves bursting in en masse when a window is opened and two dramatic episodes - the deaths of Macbeth and of Macduff’s son - in which the removal of any background in the concluding shot of the sequence robs it of its power).

But, if certain effects do not work, the film as a whole does. Much of the acting is very fine, not least the moments of humanity as found in Brendan Gleeson's warm characterisation of Duncan and in Corey Hawkins’s portrayal of Macduff’s grief on hearing that his family has been murdered. Washington’s Macbeth finds him refusing to unleash his star power until the late scenes which call for that and McDormand give us a very convincing Lady Macbeth in a performance properly rethought in terms of cinema. All told, this is a thoroughly interesting handling of a work always open to fresh treatments.

MANSEL STIMPSON

Cast: Denzel Washington, Frances McDormand, Bertie Carvel, Alex Hassell, Corey Hawkins, Kathryn Hunter, Harry Melling, Brendan Gleeson, Miles Anderon, Moses Ingram, Matt Helm.

Dir Joel Coen, Pro Joel Coen, Frances McDormand and Robert Graf, Screenplay Joel Coen from the play by William Shakespeare, Ph Bruno Delbonnel, Pro Des Stefan Dechant, Ed Lucian  Johnston and Reginald Jaynes (i.e. Joel Coen), Music Carter Burwell, Costumes Mary Zophres.

A24/IAC Films-Apple TV+.
105 mins. USA. 2021. US Rel: 25 December 2021. UK Rel: 26 December 2021. Cert. 15.