Lady Macbeth rebukes him for not leaving them and puts them in the sleeping servants' hands. Shaken, Macbeth goes to his wife, giving her two daggers. Malcolm enters and, seeing the body, flees. After the feast, Macbeth sees a boy soldier's ghost, who gives him a dagger and leads him towards Duncan's tent whom Macbeth slays. Macbeth hesitates but Lady Macbeth persuades him to kill Duncan while she drugs his servants. A feast is held, where the King pronounces Malcolm his heir. When Macbeth says Duncan will stay overnight, she urges him to kill the King to fulfill the prophecy. Lady Macbeth prays to the dark spirits for guidance. Macbeth tells his wife of the prophecies. Three women with a girl and infant approach Macbeth and Banquo, hailing Macbeth as Thane of Cawdor and future King, and Banquo as a father of Kings, before disappearing.ĭuncan hears of Macbeth's victory and executes the Thane of Cawdor for traitorously allying with Norse invaders, giving Macbeth his title. He emerges victorious, despite losses, including boy soldiers. Then, Macbeth leads King Duncan's troops into a civil war battle. The film starts with the Macbeths grieving at their child's funeral. Despite the positive critical reaction, the film grossed just $16 million worldwide against its production budget of $20 million. It received generally positive reviews from film critics who praised both Fassbender and Cotillard's performances, as well as those of the rest of the cast, visual style, script, direction and war sequences. The film was theatrically released by StudioCanal on 2 October 2015 in the United Kingdom and on 18 November 2015 in France. Macbeth premiered on at the Cannes Film Festival where it was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or. Like the play it was adapted from, the film dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those who seek power for its own sake. The story follows a Scottish lord's rise to power after receiving a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. The film stars Michael Fassbender in the title role and Marion Cotillard as Lady Macbeth, with Paddy Considine, Sean Harris, Jack Reynor, Elizabeth Debicki and David Thewlis in supporting roles. It is, however, a visceral experience (unlike many Shakespeare adaptations) led by two Oscar caliber performances.Macbeth is a 2015 epic historical drama film directed by Justin Kurzel and written for the screen by Jacob Koskoff, Todd Louiso and Michael Lesslie, based on William Shakespeare's play of the same name. Overall, it's not a usual adaption but nor is it one that I would want to sit through more than once. It wasn't really until I dug my teeth into this particular interpretation of these characters that I began to care for the stylistic storytelling. For the first 30 minutes or so, the choppy editing and strange visual cues Kurzel uses didn't enhance my viewing experience. On the other-hand, Cotillard also had her hands full with the meaty role of Lady Macbeth, but she holds her own with Fassbender, constantly nailing the difficult Shakespearean dialogue.Īs previously mentioned, you do feel a strong presence of Kurzel's visual flare here and I think there is valid argument to make that it tarnishes some aspects of the story. If marketed more, this could have been another nomination for Fassbender. He effortlessly demonstrates Macbeth's confidence while also adding in vulnerability to his paranoia. It took me awhile before I became accustomed to Kurzel's style, but it proved to create more of an emotional backbone to what is already a heavy story.įassbender, who has found such a nice balance in starring in blockbusters and indies, gives another astounding performance as the troubled title character. Kurzel chose to take a much more visceral and experimental approach with the storytelling, and for the most part, it works. Not only was I enthralled by both of their turns, but I enjoyed the different take on a story that has been redone so many times. Justin Kurzel's fresh take on the classic Shakespeare drama boasts two breathtakingly good performances from Cotillard and Fassbender, which is more than enough to overcome the unnecessarily flamboyant direction.įor someone who isn't at all into any of Shakespeare's classic tales, I was intrigued with this project for merely two reasons Marion Cotillard and Michael Fassbender.
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