Released in a limited theatrical run last year for awards consideration, Joel Coen’s Shakespearean adaptation, “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” is now available to stream on Apple TV. The film sees the legendary filmmaking duo separated for the first time in their 35-year run, resulting in a less mannered, somber adaptation of the Scottish play that drips with art-house style.
As many will be familiar with, this story follows the troubled king Macbeth (Denzel Washington) who rises to power after receiving a prophecy that he and his wife, Lady Macbeth (Frances McDormand), should be the rightful heirs to the throne. Once they replace the former leader Duncan (Brendan Gleeson), they are riddled with guilt and paranoia as their kingdom falls apart around them.
It is always a challenge to take on Shakespeare, particularly when it comes to a play as well known and as thoroughly adapted as “Macbeth.” One must consider the language and rhythm within Shakespearean prose and appropriately tune the actors to deliver the dialogue with meaningful inflection and intent. The adaptation must showcase the beauty and poetry on the page while leaving enough room in the performances to naturalize the words with relatable emotion. Luckily for Joel Coen, he and his brother have made a career of doing just that — creating comedic tragedies and tragic comedies through highly stylized dialogue that maintains relatability to a general audience.
Shot with minimal sets, sparse blocking and a square 1:33 frame, the filmmaking allows for many of the play’s most bombastic and proclamatory sonnets and soliloquies to be delivered with impactful loud/soft dynamics. Denzel whispers many of his key scenes to himself while the camera soaks up the performance from his facial gestures. Corey Hawkins as Macduff, the leader of the warring kingdom, slowly reveals the depth of his character as he transitions from hopeful and brave to torn and aggrieved. Frances McDormand is the most traditional with her line delivery but never feels out of pocket with the movie’s conceptual presentation.
The high-contrast lighting schemes and the angular sets immediately recall the German expressionist era, in which myth and cinema came together to create a sense of aesthetic menace and unease. The capture of performance through close-ups and symbolic mise-en-scene, along with the dream-like surrealism within the in-camera practical effects, mirror that of Swedish auteur Ingmar Bergman. Cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel always finds a way to maximize these influences towards the dramatic power of every shot. Along with the masterful art direction, his visual panache blurs the line between stagey artifice and the limitless creativity of movie-making.
It’s tough to say if this interpretation will convert as many modern audiences to the work of Shakespeare as say Baz Luhrmann’s “Romeo + Juliet” did in 1996, but like that film, this adaptation shares a sense of ambition, commitment and purity of style. The actors sing the dialogue in perfect harmony with the director’s cinematic vision, and while this lacks some of the folksy charm and snarky Gen X irony of the Coen’s best work, “The Tragedy of Macbeth” is a triumph of its own making.
Grade: A
Cassidy Robinson is a former Idaho State University student with a master’s degree in film studies from Orange County’s Chapman University. He is currently working as a media journalist in Los Angeles, California.