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Macbeth
: Polanski's Macbeth is highly successful in resisting the modern tendency to present Macbeth solely through a pychological lens. Whether intended or not, this film remains more true to the historical Shakespeare in that this Macbeth is motivated by opportunity, impulse, greed and power. Furthermore, through it's sensual treatment of necromancy, the witches have reclaimed their historical relevance to the play and culture of the times, while most modern versions have tended to dismiss the witches as only a babbling chorus for Macbeth's madness. (I highly recommend reading Witches & Jesuits: Shakespeare's Macbeth by Garry Willis)
 Roman Polanski's bloody, nihilistic 1971 screen version of Shakespeare's classic psychological study is an exemplary adaptation of the bard. With a literary talent as revered as Shakespeare is, one always fears individual re-interpretations of his work, especially in the medium of filmdom, which has been known to take some very dense literary works and turn them into action-packed, sex-laden Hollywood cliches. Polanski's take on on one of Shakespeare's greatest plays it not a completely literal, or line-by-line, rendering: it is an individual interpretation, probably highly influenced by the events in the director's life at the time (his wife had recently been murdered by Charles Manson's "family"), but still very true to the original spirit of the play. The choice of scenery and the setting of the movie (it was filmed in North Wales) perfectly conjures up the play's original Elizabethian-era Scotland. The castles and lodgings used throughout the movie were well-chosen and well-done. The cast, though relatively unknown, also does a great job. Jon Finch as Macbeth perfectly captures the tragic hero's nobility, immiment rage, and subsequent moral and mental decline. Francesca Annis convincingly portrays Lady Macbeth's inherently evil character and her handy persuasion abilities. Terence Bayler is a similarly convincing Macduff. Polanski has taken what was already a dark and gruesome story and made it into an absolute bloodbath. Shakespeare, perhaps necessarily, kept most of the fighting offstage; Polanski brings it to the forefront. The murder of Banquo, in particular, is quite bloody and absolute eye candy. The battle at the end of the movie, featuring Macduff's advancing army, is quite prolonged and features Macbeth in several extended sword fights; the final battle with Macduff is outstanding, and the latter carries off his head. Polanski adds gruesome touches in other areas that Shakespeare either left completely unmentioned or ambiguous, the murder of the murderers being a prime example (the naked, ghastly overweight witches and Lady Macbeth's nude sleepwalking scene being other, somewhat more subtle, touches.) The tragedy was a dark and chilling tale to begin with, a brutally honest and open psychological portrayal of one man's fall from grace. Polanski turned it into an extremely break, nihilistic film almost totally devoid of humor (the only possible instances of the latter being the witch who flashes an innocent bystander and Macbeth's verbal assault on the unsuspecting messageboy.) The thoughtful and totally unexpected ending is another nice little personal touch of the director's. Overall, a distinct and highly personal rendering of a Shakesperian masterpiece -- a modern for future interpretors of the bard who wish to add their own personal touch to a play without bringing corruption to it.
This version is not for everybody. Polanski has directed a very realistic film which at times is quite brutal. The opening sequence with the witches is brilliant. Unfortunately, the video version of this film is not widescreen. This is one film which really needs a DVD widescreen release.
For those of you (like me) who wince at a Roman Polanski production, and grow even more embarrassed when Hugh Hefner's name is attached to a project, let me say that this production is not as raunchy as you might think. The parts that might strike a person of refined sensibilities as a bit over the top include scenes where the witches are shown burying a severed hand, and where a nude Lady Macbeth washes her hands. Both the obviously rubber hand and the nudity are totally unnecessary. The movie would be better without them. That having been said, nevertheless, this is a powerfully presented version of Macbeth.
Roman Polanski's notoriously violent film of Shakespeare's notorious "Scottish play" doesn't quite satisfy as it should. His bleak modernist interpretation is ultimately just too limiting, still it's certainly a bruvura piece of moviemaking and can be best appreciated as such. After all, this is not really Shakespeare per se but a Polanski film: the prevailing themes of witchcraft, rampant paranoia, and finally triumphant evil pick up right where "Rosemary's Baby" left off. And life is certainly nasty, brutish, and short in this movie--Shakespeare's poetry takes a backseat to a surfeit of excruciatingly detailed mutilations with plenty of blades slashing through jugular veins, culminating in a truly epic decapitation. This "Macbeth" is a relentless homicidal debauch: Polanski displays the same technical virtuosity and gruesome inventiveness in staging the numerous murders here as he did in "Repulsion." All of Shakespeare's famous metaphors (e.g., "is this a dagger I see before me?") are garishly literalized and deliberately engineered as part of an escalating series of spectacular, cathartic, bloodier-than-hell set-pieces. Visually, the film is rich and vivid: the forbidding images of rain-swept moors and twilit horizons possess a spellbinding primeval quality. And there are a few brilliant, inspired moments such as when our murderous Scot, whilst lying in his bed-chamber, broods "I am so stepped in blood..." and the whole room is bathed in an eerie crimson light. But the scene that truly stands out is when he visits the witches in their lair and is shown his fate: it's a gorgeous, thrilling, and strikingly imaginative surrealist reverie. The actors--nearly all British stage pros--are solid and reliable. As Macbeth, morose, dark-eyed Jon Finch is really quite good--and he certainly does have the diction for the role. But Francesca Annis's sickly nymphet Lady Macbeth is a glaring (and oh-so-characteristic) lapse in judgement on the director's part. Weak-voiced, pasty-faced, and generally irritating, this petulant little urchin has neither the skill nor the presence to adequately bring off one of Shakespeare's most formidable women. Annis's feeble performance renders the basic psychological premise of the play--Lady Macbeth's manipulation of her husband to fulfill her delusions of grandeur--unconvincing to say the least. Finch just looks uncomfortably stricken while Annis acts coy and childish. All in all, Polanski's "Macbeth" is a decidedly thorny piece of work: since it was his first film following the murder of his pregnant wife Sharon Tate and friends by members of the Charles Manson cult, he seems to have had too much to prove here. By dispensing with the Bard's customary knot-tying closing speech and ending instead with an abrupt silent scene suggesting basically that the cycle of treachery and murder will spiral forever through the ages, Polanski overstates his case.
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