The Tragedy of Macbeth

Macbeth is the shortest of Shakespeare’s tragedies and the one, if done right, that has the snappiest tempo. This close-to-bare-bones movie adaptation by Joel Coen, a Coen brother on his own, is a bold, inventive work. I’ll admit there are shortcomings, and I’m sure sure many purists will enjoy it less than I did. So many parts are so good, though, I am gratified I saw it.

When reviewing film based on Shakespeare, I ask myself if the director has brought something to the story I haven’t seen before. The answer is yes. For one thing, Macbeth (Denzel Washington) and Lady Macbeth (Francis McDormand) are older than the actors I have seen in previous iterations. (Two examples: Orson Welles was in his early 30s when he made Macbeth, and Jon Finch was not yet 30 in Roman Polanski’s version.) This is relevant because if the main character is a young man, he has a lot of time to be king. With Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in their 60s, it ups the urgency and gives the sense that if the king isn’t killed soon, Macbeth’s chance to rule will evaporate.

Coen tries to fuse the stage and screen. The movie was shot on a soundstage, and only minutes in, that’s obvious. There’s greater depth to this stage than in the typical theater stage, but less depth than if the “outdoor” scenes had really been outdoors. Many backgrounds are smoky and seem hemmed in, as they would be on the stage. The overcast sky in many scenes doesn’t seem clearly phony as it might in the theater, but it doesn’t appear like a real sky, either. I should make a critical point: Coen isn’t trying to create a photographed play. He’s emphasizing the theatricality in some respects and marrying it to film, as Orson Welles did in his stripped-down 1948 version. What cinematic offerings does Coen bring?

Quite a few. He uses Expressionistic sets that recall Carl Theodor Dreyer works such as The Passion of Joan of Arc and Ordet. Coen also uses light and shadow to point to Macbeth’s dual nature, as when, to take one of the many instances, Macbeth walks outside the castle and the shadows from pillars strike him every few feet. Bruno Delbonnel’s black-and-white photography makes the most of contrasting lights and darknesses than color film could. The monochromatic grays are also remarkably handsome. The smoke connotes there’s an evil that is making this world burn from below, as when Macbeth and Macduff clash near the end, and hints at Macbeth’s inner turmoil. Sound is also put to excellent use. There are wind gusts, birds cawing, thunder rumbling, a tree branch knocking against a window, and an owl shrieking (at least, Lady Macbeth says it’s an owl). In one scene, Macbeth’s footsteps are like a metronome, punctuated by the loud drips of Duncan’s blood. Macbeth’s steps are too slow to be realistic, yet the Coen isn’t trying to recreate reality. He’s revealing, through sound, how Macbeth’s bloody misdeeds are with him with every step he takes. Carter Burwell’s menacing music fits in perfectly with the sinister world Coen creates.

Coen slashes many lines Shakespeare’s text and moves the action along an engaging speed. It’s not as fast as a typical superhero movie, but it’s certainly not boring at 105 minutes. The words aren’t spoken with the reverence the stage actors I’ve seen give them, and because the actors pause and reflect less than usual, the pace quickens. The film was shot with an almost square 1:19:1 aspect ratio, making Macbeth’s inner reality seem even more constricted and claustrophobic. The movie’s visual quality is another strength. The shot of trees seemingly inside the castle, for instance, is a good one. Earlier, the camera glides downward through smoke toward something dark. What is it? A lake? The camera doesn’t stop until it comes to a tightly framed shot on the side-turned face of a witch. I too love the image of a letter Lady Macbeth has burned that floats up toward the stars. No doubt it’s melodramatic, but it’s also visually and aurally stirring.

There are drawbacks. While the textual cuts help the movie move faster than most versions I’ve seen, they damage Lady Macbeth’s character arc. She encourages her husband to kill in the early stages, yet when she grows insane, it’s simply not convincing. To put it in Aristotelian terms, there are begininings, but not enough middle scenes (where examples of her decline should be) to make her ending sequences feel real. I wanted more exterior shots of the castle as well. Coen could have shown wide shots of the castle becoming darker the longer Macbeth is the king to reflect the title character’s growing instability. Even the final duel on a high, narrow walkway reveals too little of the castle. Yes, there’s smoke, but it seems to be there to hide the castle more than to be a manifestation of Macbeth’s internal deterioration.

Denzel Washington and Francis McDormand are among the best American movie actors of the past three decades, and I’m glad that they took on the two lead roles. Washington underplays Macbeth’s ambition in the first third. When he and Lady Macbeth talk in this section, they sometimes whisper. This works for Washington later as he contrasts his early, soft-spoken character to the man he turns into. After remarking that Banquo is his enemy, Macbeth says, “And in such bloody distance, that every minute of his being thrusts against my nearest of life!” He says “thrusts” with such anger, it’s clear he’s a very different character than when he was merely planning to kill the king. Washington is not perfect. His “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,” speech isn’t half as successful as Welles’s was in his Macbeth. Of course, the latter’s reading was winningly dramatic, and Washington delivers the soliloquy with resignation. Unfortunately, it lacks power. Still, in the main, he satisfies.

Overall, I’m split on Francis McDormand’s portrayal. Like Washington, she plays Lady Macbeth with restraint. She does it not only in the beginning scenes, but most of the way through. She gives the words, “What’s done is done” a commanding finality. She also provides the line, “Be bright and jovial among your guests” the firmness it needs. But whereas Washington differentiates his pre-killing Macbeth with the one who becomes king, McDormand remains mostly subdued throughout and lacks the intensity the part demands. She is further hampered by a script (by Coen) that doesn’t give enough focus to her mental deterioration. So, in the hand-washing scene, when she goes mad, McDormand wails plausibly, but because of how script limits her character, her insanity isn’t believable. Brendan Gleason plays Duncan in a conventional manner that, while not incompetent, seems too tame.

Kathryn Hunter gives an amazing performance as the witches, all three. She looks striking, with her sometimes angular and gnarled limbs and her forehead full of grooves. She has different vocal tones, with the Third Witch’s voice being the lowest and the creepiest. She is very much as otherworldly as she should be and leaves an indelible mark.

The Tragedy of Macbeth gets most of the individual parts right (including Mary Zophres’s attractively textured clothing design) and is worth experiencing. As much as I love the Coen brothers, I think Joel should go solo more often.