by Hannah Emanuelsson
Bloody with a chance of ruling – that is what the weather forecast for Justin Kurzel´s movie adaptation of William Shakespeare´s famous play „Macbeth“ would probably look like. Extensively praised by the media and nominated for the „Golden Palm“ at Cannes Film Festival this Movie is seemingly the best Macbeth adaptation ever made. In the following we will see wether the film can fulfil these demands.
One of the movies most striking aspects is the dark atmosphere it conveys. Wide and impressive landscapes, a dark and blue coloring that absolutely forces the audience to get lost in the events and weather phenomenons which are so perfectly staged that they mirror the characters deepest thoughts – The appearance of the three witches is always accompanied by green fog – a perfect realization of Shakespeare´s idea of „fog and filthy air“
Furthermore the movie stands out due to a authentic performance of Michael Fassbender as Macbeth. In his changeability he is a romantic man that loves his woman while throwing heads at the kings minion in the next moment. The audience can nearly feel how hypocrisy, ambition and distrust destroy this character finally resulting in a tyrant who stops at nothing.
Even better is the portrayal of Lady Macbeth through Marion Cotillard. A woman who is showing on the one hand a rahter shy and secluded woman that still mourns for her dead son but on the other hand shows her influence and comprehension for her man and the hierachical system. Cold and calculating but also subtle this woman manages to pull the strings.
Sadly the aspects that make the movie so interesting are partly overused. The picturesque landscapes do alternate with small and dark rooms that are lighted through candles. This is interesting for a while but also gets dull after a while. The audience really develops a strong desire for a a bit of light. In addition to that the story is nearly just a concentrate of the play Shakespeare has written a few hundred years ago. Without any previous knowledge about the plot or the character composition the film is quite difficult to follow as it starts right off, develops the story quickly and does not give much backround information about the characters.
Finally, one can surely say that neither Justin Kurzel´s ideas nor the performances of Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard are perfect but with a remarkable strong Mise-en-Scène, a specific and unique look and an overall very succesful piece of acting the movie is definetly worth to watch and very extraordinary play adaptation.
by Jan-Patrick Dietz
The 2015 British-French-American adaption of Macbeth is based on William Shakespeare’s drama from 1605.
The character Macbeth is an ambitious Scottish general, who receives a prophecy predicting that he will become King of Scotland. Driven by his own lust of power and his wife’s ambition he kills King Duncan. Macbeth and his wife are completely in a spiral of murder and bloodshed that Lady Macbeth finally commits suicide and Maceth gets killed by Macduff.
As the film was clearly cut from the original version, it was easier to follow the plot and concentrate on the actors. I think this is an important point because the actors all looked very similar. The dark and cloudy atmosphere, the constantly rain and the bloody fights supported the difficulties to tell them apart and created a pessimistic mood.
Another negative aspect I did not like about the film is that it was quite difficult to understand the actors because they were kind of mumbling the sentences which were still in Shakespeare’s original language. That made it even more difficult to understand them.
Before watching the film I thought it would be difficult to transfer a drama from 1606 into a contemporary issue. But you may compare it to the process of getting a job. Nowadays one of the most important things in life is to get a good job. To reach our goals we have to make sacrifices and may do things we normally wouldn’t do.
To conclude I would not recommend the film Macbeth, because the language and the plot are quite difficult to understand if you didn’t inform yourself about the plot before watching the film.
by Paula Fischer
Justin Kurzel’s “Macbeth” from 2005 shows the tragedy by William Shakespeare in a different light then we have seen it yet.
The movie scores with great acting and breathtaking atmosphere.
It is a must seen for every one who is able to engage in the early modern english language.
This modern adaption and interpretaion of Shakespeare’s play,
still comes with an un-updated setting of the Middel-Ages Scotland and the original language of Shakespeare.
Humorous moments and the ironic volte-face are largly cut out.
What remains is a seriousness all over the movie.
As well Kurzel cut the porter scene along with the charakter Donalbain and reinterpretated the familiar passages.
With the setting of the Middel-Ages Scotland Kurzal chose a oppresive atmosphere which shines through
grim realism and a dark, foggy, rainy and form time to time mysterious atmosphere.
Already in the beginning you notice the consitent atmosphere,
wide landscape, the death of a young child and the appearence of the witches.
The great acting is mainly performed by Michael Fassbender (Macbeth) and Marrion Cotillard (Lady Macbeth).
Fassbender plays his role in this extend almost perfectly, like he was born for this!
Especially during the hallucinations brought on by post-traumatic disorder,
which gives a new context to some of the spectral elements of the story without defanging them.
One of the most important ones is when he thinks banquo is still alive and at his banquet, which drives him crazy at this point.
On the other side Cotillard brought great self-contained acting to set.
The way she plays the developing role of Lady Macbeth is from the beginning to the end admiring.
She starts as the cold and calculating Lady of Macbeth and slowly realises to what she has made him.
Justin Kurzel aswell picked up something Shakespeare forgot, when he dedicates the last picture of the movie to Fleance the son of Banquo,
who will become King of Scotland afterwards due to the prophecies.
Aswell he made Macbeth’s childlessness to one of the major topics as we can already see in the first scene.
When a funeral of a dead child, probably Macbeth’s child, takes part.
by Ben Mießen
Bloody with a chance of ruling – that is what the weather forecast for Justin Kurzel´s movie adaptation of William Shakespeare´s famous play „Macbeth“ would probably look like. Extensively praised by the media and nominated for the „Golden Palm“ at Cannes Film Festival this Movie is seemingly the best Macbeth adaptation ever made. In the following we will see wether the film can fulfil these demands.
One of the movies most striking aspects is the dark atmosphere it conveys. Wide and impressive landscapes, a dark and blue coloring that absolutely forces the audience to get lost in the events and weather phenomenons which are so perfectly staged that they mirror the characters deepest thoughts – The appearance of the three witches is always accompanied by green fog – a perfect realization of Shakespeare´s idea of „fog and filthy air“
Furthermore the movie stands out due to a authentic performance of Michael Fassbender as Macbeth. In his changeability he is a romantic man that loves his woman while throwing heads at the kings minion in the next moment. The audience can nearly feel how hypocrisy, ambition and distrust destroy this character finally resulting in a tyrant who stops at nothing.
Even better is the portrayal of Lady Macbeth through Marion Cotillard. A woman who is showing on the one hand a rahter shy and secluded woman that still mourns for her dead son but on the other hand shows her influence and comprehension for her man and the hierachical system. Cold and calculating but also subtle this woman manages to pull the strings.
Sadly the aspects that make the movie so interesting are partly overused. The picturesque landscapes do alternate with small and dark rooms that are lighted through candles. This is interesting for a while but also gets dull after a while. The audience really develops a strong desire for a a bit of light. In addition to that the story is nearly just a concentrate of the play Shakespeare has written a few hundred years ago. Without any previous knowledge about the plot or the character composition the film is quite difficult to follow as it starts right off, develops the story quickly and does not give much backround information about the characters.
Finally, one can surely say that neither Justin Kurzel´s ideas nor the performances of Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard are perfect but with a remarkable strong Mise-en-Scène, a specific and unique look and an overall very succesful piece of acting the movie is definetly worth to watch and very extraordinary play adaptation.
The modern movie adaption “Macbeth” leaves space for different opinions and views on Justin Kurzel’s adaption Shakespeare’s play “Macbeth”.
In the following comment I will discuss whether, I approve Justin Kurzel’s adaption and interpretation of Shakespeare’s play “Macbeth”, and whether I approve Michael Fassbender’s and Marion Cotillard’s rendition of the famous royal couple, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.
Justin Kurzel’s adaption and interpretation of Shakespeare’s play “Macbeth”, has a modern touch with many stunning and breathtaking moments, packed into 1h 53min.
The situation of poverty and war is perfectly summed up in the first war scene in “Macbeth”. It’s a bloody and cruel mess, wherefore it makes the scene with the “weird sisters” stand out, while using slow motion effects and the silenced background sounds. The adaption of the movie’s language and visualizing attracts the attention of the viewer and allows him to understand the concept of “Macbeth” clearly, which is why the viewer can follow the movie more easily. Even though the movie adaption of “Macbeth” is ‘modernized’, it tries to stay close to the original play, by including appropriate sceneries to illustrate the inner mental state of Macbeth and how the murder affected his person.
As well as the scenery and landscape, the rendition of the famous royal couple, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, played by Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard, contribute a big part to the successful adaption of the play “Macbeth”.
Michael Fassbender, in the role of Macbeth, perfectly sums up the mental status Macbeth’s after he has committed several murders. One can see how the madness slowly takes over Macbeth, by the facial expression and acting of Michael Fassbender.
Marion Cotillard fits the role of Lady Macbeth brilliantly, since she embodies the cold character,who is ambitious to push Macbeth to the king’s throne.
In my opinion, the modern adaption and interpretation of Shakespeare’s tragedy “Macbeth”, as well as the rendition of the famous royal couple, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, could not be more accurate. It visualizes the traumatic transition from a mentally sane to a mentally insane person, because of several murders. The character’s rendition and illustration of the recurring victims as ghosts, stresses this madness enormously.
by Clarissa Engelhardt
by Alexander Wollenweber
Someone from a completely different time period than Shakespeare can’t truly adapt one of his play and still make it interesting, can he? Well, Justin Kurzel tried to. He’s the director of the 2015 movie adaption of the famous play “Macbeth” and in order to create a good movie which combines both aspects, he had to make changes to the actual play. But how exactly did he do that and are the changes convenient? You will find out.
One big change Kurzel performed is not opening the movie with the famous witch-scene. Instead, it starts with the funeral of a baby which plays a huge role for his interpretation of the play. The three witches are also accompanied by a child and later carry a baby. All of this is supposed to hint at the death of Macbeth’s and Lady Macbeth’s child. In the actual play, this idea is also suggested due to Lady Macbeth saying “I have given suck, and know how tender ‘tis to love the babe that milks me”. The lost child makes the behavior of Lady Macbeth much more reasonable which is why in the movie she seems to be less heartless than I expected her to be. Adding children to the witches also helps creating a darker atmosphere because someone as innocent as a child should be neither dead nor in contact with magic.
Furthermore, Kurzel decided to focus on the main characters’ posttraumatic stress disorders. This brings in a whole new context for interpretating their behavior without changing Shakespeare’s original idea. “Oh, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife” is one of the quotes that show how Macbeth suffers from this illness, Shakespeare could not name. Therefore, this aspect added to the movie adaption is probably something the writer would have approved.
To sum up, I think the movie adaption by Justin Kurzel does stay true to the play it is based on considering how it delivers the dark and tense atmosphere of the play by using fire as a guiding theme and the characters’ inducement.
by Johanna Jörgens
Justin Kurzel’s adaptation is based on Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” (2015). Macbeth, played by Michael Fassbender, gets prophecies to become king of Scotland. Lady Macbeth commits him to murder King Duncan but after the deed, she realizes that she created a tyrant. He orders to kill Banquo and also kills Macduff’s wife and children out of paranoia. The way Lady Macbeth changed through the movie is challenging. First she is obsessed with power and wealth and would do everything to reach it, but you can see how she slowly gets insane and regret the crime especially in the scene where Macbeth kills Macduff’s wife and children.
Directly in the beginning Kurzel presents the battle in a way it couldn’t have been better. The warrior are progressing in slow motion with war paint in their angry faces. Fog and mud everywhere. After the battle Macbeth gets prophesied by the three witches, who disappear in the rainy and foggy weather. This creates a really mysterious atmosphere. What I also like is the change between silent and dramatic music. It supports the exciting and mysterious atmosphere throughout the movie. The whole movie is held in grey tones except in the last scene where Fleance, the son of Banquo, and Malcolm, the son of Duncan were shown alternately. Both are going into a deep red-orange sunset, which also underlines the mysterious atmosphere.
Some negative aspects are that the characters looked quite similar to me so sometimes it was a little confusing and the language was not easy to understand. What I also didn’t like is that there was a little too much blood and brutality for me, so I had to look away, but that’s part of the movie. Without this, the adaptation wouldn’t be this good.
I would recommend Justin Kurzel’s modern adaptation because the movie’s tension stays consistent and it’s totally worth it to concentrate for about two hours on shakespearian language.
by Cynthia Chammas