Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand play Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in Joel Coen's magisterially bleak Shakespeare adaptation.
Joel Coen’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth” may have a slightly longer title than past adaptations of the Scottish Play, but the movie itself, at 105 minutes, is actually tighter than most. It’s a few minutes shy of Justin Kurzel’s, the most recent major screen adaptation, and more than half an hour shorter than Roman Polanski’s 1971 film, perhaps the maddest and grisliest of the lot.
And when the actors step forth from these gloomy expressionist shadows, they often plant themselves center-frame and speak directly to the camera — a choice that feels rooted in both an older era of filmmaking and the earlier traditions of the theater. Like so many films Joel Coen has made with his brother, Ethan, this “Macbeth” — his first purely solo outing as writer-director — feels like a master class in multitasking.
When I first heard that Washington was going to play Macbeth — the latest Shakespeare role for this veteran of a Broadway revival of “Julius Caesar” and Kenneth Branagh’s splendid film of— I initially steeled myself for a lot of stentorian bellowing. But until all hell breaks loose in the later acts, Washington underplays beautifully; his Macbeth is a triumph of psychological containment. Early on he’s watchful, stealthy, testing his own resolve, murmuring his lines rather than declaiming them.
Washington and McDormand are both in their 60s, which is older casting than usual for Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, and it adds a poignant dimension to their diabolical scheming. From the start, their murderous plot against Duncan has an air of tragic futility. Macbeth, you sense, has spent the better part of his life being passed over for higher leadership. This is his last stab at greatness, and any such greatness will be short-lived.
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