Macbeth

I have seen this film in the cinema , and on Netflix, the dvd is a "keeper" - for me it's a brilliant adaptation of Shakespeare's play , excellent acting , well crafted filming to create the atmosphere of the age.

This is an historical play loosely based, by Shakespeare, on this Scottish lord. The dvd is magnificent – the scenery which is so darkly beautiful, the sense of foreboding, the scenes of battle etc. But of course, it is Shakespeare’s genius’ in the characters he creates who always stand out and make us discover something new about ourselves. In this story, Lady Macbeth swears that she would murder a beloved son for her husband to take Duncan’s throne when Macbeth refuses to kill the king. How many husbands are driven by ambitious wives? There is one thing that is puzzling – why was a French actress chosen to play Lady Macbeth? All in all, however, it is a most entertaining film and my wife and I have watched it quite a few times since we bought it.

Blood and guts version of the Scottish play. The best features are visual, with good use made of the lowering Scottish countryside (though some scenes are filmed in Northern England). Fassbender is a suitably macho Macbeth, but handles the introspection well. Marion Cotillard does well enough but does not dominate the film enough – probably not her fault. The witches, all too easily a laughable aspect, are presented effectively with the addition of an eerie child. It is difficult to understand large parts of the text due to the large variety of accents and intonations on display. The final scenes are well staged, and the interpolated opening scene helps makes sense of the rest of the story. Worth watching as an adaptation, but there are better ones available on film.

Ooooh, so close. Pretty much the entire film is absolutely beautiful to look at except for the end sequence, which is simply far too red. So it is with the adaptation overall : a great deal of it is done very well indeed, but other parts are strangely flawed. The acting is spot on. Macbeth is simultaneously a grieving father, a warrior, a leader of men yet racked with doubt, a gracious host and a foul murderer - and he's utterly convincing as all of these. How full of scorpions is his mind indeed. Lady Macbeth is absolutely the complex and sinister villain you'd expect from the role. It's worth repeating how beautiful the cinematography is. So for the positive sides you've got some damn fine actors spouting gobsmackingly beautiful Shakespearean dialogue in the gorgeously dark and barren highlands of Scotland. All this makes it well worth watching. But... sometimes it feels a little too up itself. The director seemed to forget he was telling a story and concentrated on winning awards at Cannes. Some of the more melodramatic scenes have been toned down or cut out altogether. Most notably, there's no "fire burn and cauldron bubble" speech. The "witches" are just ordinary people who live in a field. OK, I get how you would tone things down to interpret the play, but it's just a little too much. Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking scene also feels just a bit odd. She's just sat on the floor delivering a soliloquy whilst doing precisely nothing. That's not how I pictured the scene at all. Too often the characters seem to be talking to themselves when they should be interacting with each other. Rather a lot of dialogue appears to have been cut from the play which probably shouldn't have been, leading to some oddly long silent sequences, especially at the start. Lots of quiet brooding here when there should be more explicit emotion. More interactions needed. It's like the goal was to try and blur the line between the soliloquies and the ordinary interactions - if so, this is a failure. Which is not to say that the film doesn't do a darn fine job when it's being a bit more conventional. And why is it that Macbeth, a nobleman and commander of the royal army, lives in a small wooden hut in the field ? He can't even afford to give Duncan a room, so he has to sleep in a tent. That just seemed... odd. Even so, it's a fine piece of work overall.

I read lots of these reviews before I purchased this version and wasn't sure whether I would like it. Have to say that it blew me away on many levels. The cinematography is beautifully rugged and evocative. Michael Fassbender not only has the finest pair of eyes in the business but also a voice made for delivering Shakespeare as Gerard Depardieu has for Alexandrine verse in French. The approach is very naturalistic - the direction being to speak with the beat of the heart -so I found the lines and meaning to be easily digested and understood. I occasionally missed a phrase due to the Scottish burr but found it much more accessible than the old style 'Olivier' delivery with all the spitting and gabbling that usually characterises filmed versions of the bard. While purists may criticise the edits, I understand the requirements of the medium in that respect. What I found moving about the film was the interaction between Macbeth and his lady and the great sense of loneliness and loss that pervades the piece. These are very sympathetically observed villains. They are damaged people, barely holding on and their grief is the motivation for their crimes which is a very refreshing take on the traditional 'evil ambition' motivation. I would certainly recommend it for anyone coming to Macbeth for the first time or who is fascinated in different interpretations of the plays.

Bought for school prep

I'm a watcher of everything from silly, casual, explodey goodness to the heavier, deep films out there; and theatre, too, for that matter. And this had something to offer almost every part of my tastes and hopes. It's easily my favourite Shakespeare production now (and currently one of my favourite films). The acting is fantastic, the action in it is surprisingly hollywood-esque in scale but still incredibly artful and dramatic. And the mood and atmosphere of the entire piece is incredibly immersive. Highly recommended!

I particularly liked the angle the director took in creating empathy for Macbeth and his wife. The changes to Shakespeare's original added to the experience rather than making me question why they had been made. Also of note is the soundtrack, stylised approach and the emphasis of the characters' connection with nature. An excellent adaptation with outstanding acting.

Good product, good picture quality.but there is not much similarities between the movie and the original Macbeth book. But dvd is a good one.

Excelente pelicula con actores extraordinarios vale la pena adquirirla en la coleccion de todo cinefilo, con la imagen y el sonido increible

When I decided to find a film of "Macbeth" to purchase, I was quickly drawn to this one, since the murderous couple was played by 2 of the most talented and beautiful actors on the planet, Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard. And I was not disappointed. Lady Macbeth chilled me to the bone as she called upon the spirits to "unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe, top-full of direst cruelty". She was revved up for action before her husband was. As for Macbeth himself, he was calm and almost matter-of-fact as he first stabbed his victim with the dagger; but his facial expression and his actions increased in savagery as he continued, as if he could tear the deed itself to shreds, to make it disappear. Another element of the film that impressed me was the starkness of the outdoor scenes, of which there were many. The bleak surroundings prepare the viewer for the evils to come. When I read the reviews of others, I noticed 3 negative things that I ignored when I made my choice. The first was that the film was generally so dark that it was hard to see what was happening. I have to agree; much of the film was dark but I did not find this to be a disadvantage. The second criticism was that the actors mumbled their lines, making it difficult to understand what was said. Again, I agree. The actors kept it extremely low-key. Even the witches were surprisingly quiet. But I take issue with the third negative, that the subtitles did not help. They absolutely did. They were easy to see and easy to read, and they made up for the low-key speech. The beauty of Shakespeare's language was not lost. All things considered, I thought this film was excellent. It helps if you already know the story, but this is true of just about every historical drama I have seen.

Ok video.

Un chef d'oeuvre que cette adaptation cinématographique du Macbeth de Shakespeare. Mise en scène époustouflante des combats, Marion Cotillard habitée littéralement par son personnage, bande sonore en totale harmonie avec le climat ce récit épique. A voir et revoir.