Great Performances: Macbeth

Patrick Stewart is excellent as Macbeth, and Kate Fleetwood is a perfect Lady Macbeth! Their performances are convincing, passionate, and raw. What I like about this film is the obvious love and desire the Macbeths have for each other at the onset of the play. Stewart and Fleetwood are a believable couple. They look forward to seeing each other, to sharing good news with each other, to touching each other, but as they become mired in their ambitions, and worse...become successful at gaining status, their isolation from one another grows. I like that although the play is famously dark, and violent, the subtleties between the Macbeths, the unreciprocated touch, the weary stare, the dismissiveness of one another is just as haunting and memorable as the blood baths.Their separateness and the differences of their madness are striking in this film.Primarily set in dark, dank industrial-type buildings, under a Poe-esque oppressive sky, the disturbing setting is absolutely appropriate. The decision to set the play in what looks like an abandoned asylum adds to the grotesque nightmare, making an indelible impression on the viewer. The lighting, the single sink in the middle of a dark room, the cold kitchen...all of it exaggerates the soulless and lost characters who inhabit that space. And the witches!!! They are the scariest of all. They are NOT bumbling old ladies making brews and predictions...they are contorting, convulsing satanic messengers, reanimating the dead, and seemingly always nearby, which constantly reminds the viewer of a possible worse afterlife for the Macbeths, if that is even possible.Overall, excellent. It may take a moment to adjust to the setting...is it Stalin's world? or Winston Smith's? Whatever it is, it is sterile, industrial, oppressive, and perfect. It's hell realized in synchronized subtleties: misery, torture, agony, and torment. This Macbeth has it all.Excellent casting, directing, staging, acting...to give us a taste of what hell must be like.

I have seen both live and filmed versions of Macbeth over the years, but none made a greater impression than this version that I caught on PBS on Wednesday, October 6. I was going to watch the first hour of Macbeth--a story I knew well--and then turn to another program, but I couldn't turn the channel because I had been ineluctably drawn into the drama and era. The play is set in late 1930s or early 1940s fascist Europe. Scotland is a fascist country similar to Italy and Germany of the time, and is at war with democratic England. Film clips of fascist Italy and communist Soviet Union are used to portray the armies of Scotland. As happens in fascism and militarism, affairs between leaders are often settled by murder and assassination in particularly brutal ways. The setting is similar to the 1995 version of Richard III staring Ian McKellen that was so effective with the late 1930s militaristic uniforms, automobiles, and settings.To say this Macbeth is excellently acted is an understatement: the acting and elocution are terrific, that of Patrick Stewart as Macbeth and every single other character. Every word is completely discernible. The costumes, scenery, and staging are also spectacular. For three hours I watched with complete attention and fascination--I literally could not turn away from the drama on the screen. After Macbeth has decided to go over to the dark side at his wife's urging, the staging has frequent moments of impending menace and dread, such as when he matter-of-factually prepares ham sandwiches while he instructs his assassins about how to murder Banquo and his son. Others include the impending murder of Macduff's wife and children, Lady Macbeth's horrifying visions during her sleepwalking scene, the hilarious and disturbing impromptu dance to a Russian folk song that the guests use to unsuccessfully alleviate the dread and tension during the banquet scene, and the three weird sisters portrayed as preternatural witches in the guise of malevolent military nurses.The entirety of the staging, scenery, and direction is completely thought out to make this an inspired, effective, and completely engrossing drama. The terror in Macbeth becomes palpable and some of the images will remain with you. I will certainly buy the DVD when it becomes available and I encourage readers to do so also. This will surely become the standard Macbeth on DVD.

I was lucky enough to get the chance to watch this Macbeth live onstage in New York a few years ago. (My favorite starship captain in my favorite Shakespeare play? I had to go!) It was an absolutely amazing experience, and not just because of Patrick Stewart. All the performances were great and I loved the creative stage design (the elevator!), the Stalinesque aesthetic, etc. So when I heard that there would be a film version released on DVD, I was thrilled.But even having seen and loved the live version didn't quite prepare me for this video. I was blown away. As with the DVD version of Hamlet starring David Tennant, they spruced it up with gorgeous sets and locations and nifty editing to make it more "cinematic" and not just a filmed stageplay. The performances are as great as ever (and some of them I was perhaps able to appreciate better than I did from the upper balcony of the theater). Sir Patrick's transition from decent but ambitious guy to ruthless dictator was so natural you never quite lose sympathy for him. Kate Fleetwood's Lady M is almost gleefully wicked but shows her conscience in subtle ways; she and Macbeth have great chemistry. But I think my favorite might actually be the incredibly creepy Weird Sisters. I get chills from their first entrance and all their scenes.DVD-wise, this is an extremely bare-bones release, with no extras of any kind. I would have loved a director/actor commentary track. Still, the film on its own is definitely worth the price of purchase.