"The Tragedy of Macbeth" by Joel Coen strikes with beauty and relevance
Miscellaneous / / January 15, 2022
Forget the cool decorations. You are waiting for only great actors and the original story of Shakespeare.
In 2021, sad news awaited all fans of the witty auteur cinema: the famous tandem of brothers Cohen, who directed The Big Lebowski, Fargo, No Country for Old Men and many other legendary works, broke up. The youngest, Ethan, decided to take a break from the cinema and take up theatrical productions.
Therefore, The Tragedy of Macbeth, a new adaptation of the classic play by William Shakespeare, Joel Coen created alone - for the first time since his debut in 1984. And you can see some irony in this: while Ethan is engaged in theater, his brother brings stage productions directly home to the audience. On January 14, the film was released on Apple TV+.
In fact, this work can hardly even be called a film. This is the classic theatrical Shakespeare. This approach does not make The Tragedy of Macbeth any worse, it just needs to adjust expectations: there will be no large-scale historical scenery or attempts to bring the plot closer to the modern world. Only the original text, excellent acting and exquisite staging.
Real Shakespeare
The film retells the plot of the classic play without any changes. Generals Macbeth (Denzel Washington) and Banquo (Bertie Carvel) defeat the Norwegians. As the heroes return to King Duncan (Brendan Gleeson), three witches (Katherine Hunter) meet on their way. plays for everyone) who predict that Macbeth will become king, and Banquo will give rise to a whole family rulers. Upon learning of this, Lady Macbeth (Frances McDormand) pushes her husband to kill Duncan and the rest of the rivals.
Shakespeare's plays are transferred to the big screens more often than other works of the classics. And there are probably two reasons for this.
For starters, the recognition of the author, combined with the absence of the need to obtain rights. After all, it is unlikely that the name of Christopher Marlowe or Thomas Kidd (famous playwrights of the same era) will attract as much attention.
But more importantly, Shakespeare's works, if properly adapted, look relevant even now. "Romeo and Juliet" fits equally well both on the topic of street fights in the USA in the 1950s (talking about "West Side Story"), and on modern crime (“Romeo + Juliet” in 1996 by Baz Luhrmann) and even the era of social networks and the screen‑life format (R#J from producer Timur Bekmambetov). A Ian McKellen with "Richard III" and Ralph Fiennes with "Coriolanus", both of whom played the main roles in their films, showed that Shakespeare's historical plays about wars and betrayals are frighteningly close to modern times.
Examples can be listed for a long time, but all this is necessary only to bring to the main point: Joel Coen does not even try to modernize Macbeth in any way. It retains the original text, except perhaps with some cuts (rather for the sake of keeping pace than out of a desire to keep within the format), leaves the same time and place of action. But it is precisely this that most clearly emphasizes that Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's most relevant and cinematic plays. Without any flirting with the agenda, the picture will hook any viewer in any corner of the world.
Because this is a story about excessive lust for power, which makes a once worthy person go to vile deeds. It is also a story about secret pressure: in fact, Lady Macbeth realizes her ambitions through the hands of her husband. And, of course, about retribution.
Although here, perhaps, one can not even explain: anyone who has read Shakespeare, watched at least one of the theatrical productions or adaptations, knows this plot. And for those who haven't heard of it, you should definitely dive into it. Cohen's version is a great option for a first acquaintance. The film is visually beautiful as well.
Theater in noir aesthetics
Joel Coen is far from the first bright author to film Macbeth. Back in 1948, the great Orson Welles staged his version. In 1957, Akira Kurosawa released Throne of Blood. Roman Polanski joined them in 1971. There are other, less successful options. But it seems that not a single predecessor treated the visuals so unusually.
On the one hand, The Tragedy of Macbeth is a completely theatrical production. The picture refuses to scale, replacing battles with intimacy. This is evidenced even by the opening scene with witches - one of the most beautiful and at the same time frightening in the film. Katherine Hunter talks to herself, portraying three heroines, and at the same time turns the monologue into a plastic theater. And in the subsequent action, the characters will often stand still and pronounce the text against the backdrop of very conditional scenery. But surprisingly, this is only a plus: in the previous film adaptation in 2015 from Justin Kurzel, a considerable part of the drama was lost behind the scope.
On the other hand, Cohen managed to make a technically perfect movie that almost resembles "Citizen Kane» mentioned Wells. It is enough to pay attention to the monologue of Macbeth walking down the corridor. It is hard to imagine that a chamber stage can be so aesthetic. Here, literally every frame is verified. If you don’t want to take a word, just scroll through the illustrations for this text and watch the trailers - the whole movie is just as good.
And in these incredibly stylish scenes, great actors play the roles. The cast was treated very freely: usually younger artists are taken to the production. But it is unlikely that someone will turn their tongues to find fault with the main composition.
Yes, Denzel Washington is black, but fortunately Apple releases films without dubbing. You can turn on the original track and literally drown in his voice and manner of speech. Yes, Frances McDormand is the director's wife. But she is also the owner of three Oscars and one of the best character actresses of our time. From some of her intonations goosebumps goosebumps - whether from admiration, or from fear, it is difficult to make out.
And the very idea that not emotional youth is fighting for power, but people for whom this is the last chance to realize their ambitions can evoke a response from the viewer.
A bit of classic horror
The theme of fright, which has already appeared twice in this text, is not accidental. After all, Cohen, seemingly staging a classic play, sometimes makes one recall the old American horrors in the spirit of Frankenstein, then Bergman, or even Robert Eggers with his “beacon».
The last association is the most ironic. The Tragedy of Macbeth is being produced by A24, which in recent years has made a name for itself on the very “sublime horror” that Eggers, in particular, shoots. And then there's the black and white picture, and the outdated screen aspect ratio of 1:1.19.
But still, the classics of cinema will come to mind more often. Even the image of Hunter resembles Death from "seventh seal(it's scary to imagine if Bengt Eckerut in Bergman's work moved in the same way). The night scenes of Birnam Forest make you almost hold your breath in anticipation of some screamer. Fortunately, the director will not go for such banal moves, relying on suspense.
Of course, it should be borne in mind that theater-goers and Shakespeare experts will not see anything fundamentally new in this film. It's just a very beautiful version of a classic. It looks like Joel Coen just wanted to fulfill his long-time ambition. Therefore, he himself staged The Tragedy of Macbeth, personally produced it and even edited it. As a result, we got a verified work, in which one can hardly find at least one proprietary feature of the creator.
But the individual components are simply mesmerizing. For sure, in the upcoming Oscar race, the names of the leading actors and cameraman Bruno Delbonnel will sound more than once. The tape allows you to feel as if you are at the same time in the theater next to famous actors, and in a film noir with gloomy ravens circling over pale landscapes.
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