Movie Review: Lady Macbeth – Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is coming to a close this weekend, and as with every year, there are plenty of movies that are shown around Park City, Ogden, Provo, and Salt Lake City.
Directed by William Oldroyd, “Lady Macbeth” is one of the films that premiered during the annual Utah festival.
This film tells the story of 19-year-old Katherine (Florence Pugh), a young bride bought to marry Alexander, a cold, violent man. Katherine’s primary role in her new household is to provide children for her husband, though she soon finds he is sexually dysfunctional. Told to keep indoors by her new husband and father-in-law, Boris (Christopher Fairbank), Katherine finds herself trapped in a confining household with only her maid Anna (Naomi Ackie) for company.
When Alexander and Boris are called away for work, Katherine begins to for some excitement to break up the boring daily routine. She meets a newly hired servant named Sebastian (Cosmo Jarvis) and they begin a passionate and lust-filled affair that begins to catch the neighbor’s attention. Confronted first by Boris upon his return from work, Catherine retaliates violently in a way that allows her to continue her affair with Sebastian. In a surprisingly violent turn of events, “Lady Macbeth” tells the origin story of the woman who will eventually become the Queen of Scotland in the Shakespearean play “Macbeth.”
I felt the plot reflected multiple modern-day issues, such as women’s rights through the setting of a patriarchal society and white privilege through the differences in race and class. Katherine’s growing frustration at her lot in life as an object to bear children and nothing more is shown through the austere and bare scenery in the house as her day-to-day activities left her sitting by the window, sitting at the dining table and sitting in the parlor until bedtime. When the men of the household leave to business, she is able to do the things she wanted, like take walks outside and find love with one of the homestead servants. By taking control over little aspects of her life over the course of the film, the character develops into someone unwilling to be controlled by the abusive people in her life, even though she does so in a way marked by serial killers and psychopaths.
I found the actors performances very good, especially that of Pugh. For her first lead role, the 19-year-old is able to hold her own against seasoned actors in the cast. Through subtle facial expressions and glances, Pugh is able to portray her character’s emotions and thoughts without the need for words or explanation.
The main problem with the film was the camera work and audio. There were multiple moments when shaky scenes and the sound of wind overpowered the action of the film and took the audience out the movie. Overall, the use of natural sounds over a soundtrack worked well with the use of close camera angles to create a sense of tension with the characters and the setting itself, but there could have been room for fewer close shots.
If I were to give this movie a grade, I would give it a B-. The plot was well thought out and surprising, and the acting was very good. However, the camera work and audio could have been improved.
@miranda_lorenc