359 - The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare, United Kingdom/United States, 1971. Dir. Roman Polanski.
Shhh!
You have now entered the theatre.
Please do not speak the name of the Scottish play out loud. Kindly refer to it henceforth as "The Scottish Play."
We wish to do no harm to the theatre.
And since the main characters share the same name as the play, please refer to them as The Scottish King and The Scottish Lady.
Thank you for your kindness and cooperation.
And now for our play.
Whew!
That was close. We diverted a disaster.
Now let us exit the theatre. We are back in the realm of the blog. You may now speak the name of the play and the names of the characters. Thank you.
Proceed.
With Hamlet we had the Dane.
With Macbeth we have the Thane,
Malcolm, and his brother Donalbain.
Now let us go to Dunsinane!
Roman Polanski has created a film which, among other things, is exceedingly clear. If you are unfamiliar or only slightly familiar with Macbeth, or if you are otherwise intimidated by the writing of Shakespeare, then you will be pleasantly surprised by this film. You can follow it.
It begins by being visually stunning. You may watch it regardless of the story and be swept up in the look of the film. Polanski as always creates superior visual images, an artist to the end. He returns to his cinematographer from Repulsion (1965) and Cul-de-Sac (1966), Gilbert "Gil" Talyor.
He also returns to Lindisfarne in Northumberland, the island with the wide sand and the great castle where he filmed Cul-de-Sac. In addition to Lindisfarne, he travels to Bamburgh and its castle, also in Northumberland, Harlech and its castle in Gwynedd, Wales, and other parts of Gwynedd, all of which transport us back in time, not to Shakespeare's day, but to Macbeth's, which is centuries before.
Polanski brings on literary giant Kenneth Tynan to help him write the screenplay and research the world--and research it they have done. They have researched everything to the minutest detail--the clothing, the chainmail, the saddles on the horses, the way the men ride the horses, styles of combat, architecture, weapons, accessories, the crown, animals, sleeping habits. All of the things the viewer sees have been meticulously designed to be as authentic to the time period as possible.
Kenneth Tynan began as a theater critic, and at the time of his working on Macbeth he was the literary manager at the National Theatre Company. Later he moved to California to continue his work as a writer. He was thought of as a literary giant, and his contributions to the film are considerable.
Polanski has thought deeply about his casting, and he has cast exceptional actors. He directs them to speak their lines naturally, as real people really speak, and not as if performing on the stage. Consequently, the characters speak in a way that feels contemporary and easy to follow. They are not putting on as if they know they are performing for the camera. They are simply living life.
Here is a brief synopsis.
Duncan is the king. Macbeth is the Thane of Glamis. Another man is the Thane of Cawdor and yet another man the Thane of Ross.
The men have just fought in battle. The Thane of Ross advises King Duncan on how they behaved. The Thane of Cawdor acted treasonously, while Macbeth, the Thane of Glamis, acted heroically. Duncan decides to execute Cawdor and promote Macbeth to his position.
Meanwhile, Macbeth and his colleague and friend Banquo are riding on their horses. They pass by a group of witches who have been preparing a brew. The witches stop them to tell them their prophecy. Macbeth will be made the Thane of Cawdor and later will become the King. Banquo will not be made king but his offspring will be. Macbeth and Banquo laugh at the witches. They do not believe them but are entertained by them.
Messengers from the king arrive and inform Macbeth that he is to be made the new Thane of Cawdor. He will also retain his position as Thane of Glamis. Macbeth and Banquo look at one another. They cannot believe what they have just heard. The witches have made a prediction and within moments the first part of it is becoming true. They follow the messengers to the king, where he promotes Macbeth as the new Thane of Cawdor.
At this point all is well. Macbeth is a good man. Brave. Heroic. Honest. True. He serves the king and has not sought to overstep his station. The witches predict good things for him. The king believes in him. He is rewarded for his fidelity. If he were to do nothing, assuming the witches are correct, he will become king one day anyway.
But something changes seemingly all in an instant. Duncan promotes one of his sons, Malcolm, as the new Prince of Cumberland. This places Malcolm in royal succession as the next in line for the throne. Malcolm's brother, Donalbain, is not pleased, and neither is Macbeth. He does not trust fate or providence to work things out. He believes he will have to act in order to make the prediction come to pass.
In that sense, Macbeth becomes the opposite of Oedipus. The Oracle predicted that Oedipus one day would kill his father and marry his mother, so Oedipus did everything in his power to keep that from happening. Yet all of his actions to keep it from happening became the things that caused it to happen.
Macbeth, on the other hand, does everything in his power to cause the witches' predictions to happen. Yet all of his actions to make them happen become the things that prevent them from happening.
Apparently one should not fight fate. At least according to these stories.
Macbeth writes letters to his wife. And Lady Macbeth is filled with visions of her husband as king. O to see that day! She plots her own conspiracy.
When he arrives she shares the plan.
Macbeth decides to abandon the plan and be faithful to Duncan, but his wife eggs him on. She says, "But screw your courage to the sticking place, and we'll not fail."
Duncan comes to call. When you have the favor of the king--and when you live in a castle--he will visit your home. They have a feast. They have a dance. That night they poison his bodyguards and Macbeth goes in to the king's bedroom with a dagger.
The scene is all the more treacherous after the set up, after we see how much Duncan loves Macbeth, and how loyal Macbeth has been to him, and how much good Duncan intends to do for Macbeth. And then, as Macbeth hovers over Duncan's sleeping body, Duncan wakes up. Sees him. Realizes it. Looks him in the eyes. Speaks his name.
Why do it, Macbeth? Why?
This film makes the deed deeply personal.
A major part of Polanski's vision is to cast Macbeth and Lady Macbeth as young--not older people as had been traditionally done--but people in their twenties, who are filled with energy and desire and ambition. It works well.
After the deed is done, Macbeth succeeds in making people think Duncan's sons killed their own father, and they in turn flee to England and to Ireland.
It works out. No one suspects Macbeth. They crown him king. He has made the witches' prediction come to pass.
But something else begins to happen.
Guilt.
Fear.
Paranoia.
Mental illness.
They cannot be happy. They look perpetually over their shoulders. Who knows? Who is plotting to kill them? They trust no one.
As Macbeth says, "O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!"
As she says to him, "This is the very painting of your fear."
He has Banquo killed. He blames Banquo's son Feance. He sees Banquo returned as a ghost. He is haunted. Tormented.
Lady Macbeth begins to sleepwalk. The handmaid calls in the doctor. He witnesses her delusions. You may know her famous line. "Out, damned spot!" But did you know that she says it while asleep? While sleep walking? While washing her hands where there is no water? She too is haunted. Tormented.
The doctor cannot help her. "Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased?"
"This disease is beyond my practice."
She needs more than a doctor.
"More needs she the divine than a physician. God! God forgive us all!"
Macbeth knows not what to do. He returns to the witches. They are midbrew. Throwing in everything that you might imagine you do not wish to ingest. He entreats them to help him. Tell him more. They oblige. He looks in the cauldron. He sees himself speaking back to himself.
First Apparition - Beware Macduff.
Second Apparition - None of woman born / Shall harm Macbeth.
Third Apparition - Macbeth shall never vanquished be until / Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill / Shall come against him.
That second apparition is going to give Macbeth false hope. No one born of a woman shall harm him. He believes that means everyone. Everyone is born of a woman. Therefore, no one shall harm Macbeth. He does not consider that a C-section might make an exception to the rule.
Macduff was born of a C-section. Macduff will harm Macbeth. Lay on, Macduff.
He should have listened more closely to the first apparition.
The film contains special effects.
When Macbeth sees a dagger in the air, we see it too. We do not have to imagine it. When Lady Macbeth refers to "the very air-drawn dagger which, you said, / Led you to Duncan," we know what she is talking about, because we have seen the air-drawn dagger floating in the air.
The men come bearing trees, as the great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill.
The catapults shoot fireballs over the castle walls.
They invade the castle.
There is a showdown. A swordfight. A swordfight that must have been choreographed with the fighting of the time in mind. It does not look contemporary.
And then the violence.
"Macbeth is a play steeped in blood. To smooth it down just for the satisfaction of some film critics would be wrong. The violence should not be palatable." - Roman Polanski.
There is a lot to be said for this movie. It is not a small entry into the Shakespeare film canon. It is a major player.
Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor playerThat struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
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