MACBETH, UK, 2024. Starring Ralph Fiennes, Indira Varma, Ben Allen, Ewan Black, Jonathan Case, Steffan Rhodri, Ben Turner. Directed by Simon Godwin. 150 minutes. Rated M (Violence)
Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays. There have been many film versions, from Orson Welles (1948) and Roman Polanski with Jon Finch and Francesca Annis (1971) to more recently, Justin Kurzel with Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard (2015), or Joel Coen with Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand (2021). All striking in their own way.
This production is a stage version, captured for film. It is a way of immersing the audience in the action, stylised as it is. The camera is able to bring us closer, through extreme close-ups, of the characters, a focus and view of them sometimes more intimate than for the theatre audience.
The setting is contemporary. Macbeth and soldiers are in more familiar military uniform, the weird sisters (rather than witches) looking bizarre but less sinister, and Lady Macbeth usually in simple white dress. The impact for the audience means that they are not looking at a cinematic spectacle, with a play opened out in realistic fashion. Rather, the emphasis is on the characters and the language.
This version is worth seeing because Fiennes’ interpretation of Macbeth is different from what we have seen in the past. At first sight, weary from battle, Macbeth seems ordinary despite his rank. He is stirred by the words of the weird sisters, moved by ambition, yet a firm companion with Banquo, and returns home to his wife.
This version of the play, however, could be called Lady Macbeth. As played by Varma, she is a steely personality, sometimes softer in appearance, but soon moving into grim determination and masterminding the plot. The action moves quickly, the murder of Duncan and its consequences, her trying to hold things together with Macbeth’s bizarre behaviour at the banquet, and her final mad decline.
One of the great advantages of this performance is that the cast speak their lines, making the iambic pentameter seem like conversation – although, there are always the moments of declamation, contrasting with the quiet meditative delivery of so many of the famous lines – tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow . . . The actors speak their lines with commendable clarity.
Malcolm is a more memorable character here. Banquo is strong. Seton is more significant. So are the murderers sent by Macbeth to destroy Macduff’s family. And, of course, the final confrontation with Macduff.
Response will depend on audience familiarity with the play, the scenes that they value, their expectations on how they will be presented, any dramatic and unexpected twists.
Back to Fiennes’ presentation of Macbeth. Seemingly already maddened by the intrigue against the king, his mental morality challenged and sanity beginning to go awry, Fiennes presents Macbeth with all kinds of unexpected erratic behaviour. He moves through most of the play stooped, bent from the waist, sometimes walking, sometimes running, even sometimes jigging. And his face goes through all kinds of expressions, giggles, mad laughs, even poking out his tongue and pulling faces. Not quite the solemn Macbeth we are used to.
Which then builds up to the climax, an ingenious presentation of troops holding branches so that Burnham Wood can advance on Dunsinane.
So, an unusual vision of Macbeth himself – and, a performance by Indira Varma of Lady Macbeth that will stay in the memory.
Sharmill
Released 2 May