What starts off as a genteel period film, the chilling “Lady
Macbeth” gradually reveals the irreparable rot at its core. Set in 1865 rural
England, the film tells the story of 17-year-old Katherine (Florence Pugh), who
as the story begins, has been sold into a loveless marriage to Alexander (Paul
Hilton), a man more than twice her age. A cold and generally terrible man, he treats
her with contempt, making it quite plain that he has little interest in
Katherine outside of her ability to bear him an heir.
During the
day she’s left to her own devices as lady of the house. At least partially out
of sheer boredom, she begins an illicit affair with the manor’s brutish
groomsman, Sebastian (Cosmo Jarvis) — and the decision leads her to indulge her
desires with ever darker and more desperate actions. We have sympathy for
Katherine early on, but those feelings gradually curdle into something else
entirely as it becomes apparent the film is transitioning into a character
study about the making of a psychopath.
Contrary to
the title, “Lady Macbeth” is not a Shakespearean adaptation, but takes
inspiration instead from Nikolai Leskov’s Russian novella “Lady Macbeth of the
Mtsensk District” (which later became a famous opera by Shostakovich).
Underlying
the story are ideas of race, gender, privilege, and power: white men control
the world, but the only people Katherine has any power over are the ethnically
ambiguous Sebastian and her black maid, Anna (Naomi Ackie, conveying much
without the benefit of words). As the one whose duty it is to tend to
Katherine, Anna faces the consequences of her mistress’s behavior. Made to be a
silent witness, she sees Katherine for who she is, but is unable to do much of
anything about it.
At the
film’s center is a captivatingly bold, fearless performance from Pugh. Her
Katherine is capable of unimaginable cruelty, proving herself perfectly able to
use anyone around her as a stepping stone to a better life.
In his first
feature, William Oldroyd, a British theater director, uses an unnerving
stillness that belies the bitter emotions roiling beneath every scene.
Cinematographer Ari Wegner casts the world in dreary grey tones, complementing
the claustrophobic, chilly, and ultimately brutal tale carried out with a
ruthless precision.
Check back on Friday for additional film coverage, including a review of the documentary
“Rumble: Indians Who Rocked the World.”
This article appears in Aug 2-8, 2017.
