Movies - Macbeth

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	Movies - Macbeth

*Macbeth*
*' (external link)*
Writer:	William Shakespeare (play) Roman Polanski & Kenneth Tynan
Starring:	Jon Finch , Francesca Annis , Martin Shaw
Director:	Roman Polanski
Photography:	Gilbert Taylor
Music by:	Third Ear Band
Distributor:	Columbia Pictures
Release Date:	13 October, 1971 (USA)
Runtime:	140 min.
Language:	English
Related movies:	- Kumonosu jô (1957) , by Akira Kurosawa -Maqbool (2003), version set in India, by Vishal Bharadwaj -Macbeth (1948), by Orson Welles -Scotland, PA, by Billy Morrissette
Awards:	1972 National Board of Review, NBR Award for Best Picture ; 1973 BAFTA, BAFTA Award for Best Costume Design

Macbeth' (also known as The Tragedy of Macbeth) is a 1971 film directed by Roman Polanski, based on William Shakespeare's play of the same name, concerning the Scottish lord who becomes the king through deceit, treachery and murder. It stars Jon Finch as Macbeth and Francesca Annis as Lady Macbeth. Because of the transition from play to movie, some passages from the original play had to be cut out for time constraints, and some soliloquies have been changed to inner monologues for the sake of realism.

Although the film maintains the basic structure of Shakespeare's original text, it is considered one of the darkest interpretations ever conceived. It overtly presents much of the violence only implied in the play, including the murder of King Duncan, the bear-baiting, the execution of the traitorous Thane of Cawdor, and Macbeth's decapitation. It also changes the personality of several of the characters, usually by removing their dialogue or placing it in a more cynical context. Duncan's sons (virtuous avengers in Shakespeare) are shown as venal weaklings; while the Scottish nobleman Ross, played by John Stride, is shown as a ruthless schemer who oversees both Banquo's murder and the sacking of Macduff's castle.

This has been attributed to the fact that Polanski's wife, actress Sharon Tate, had been brutally murdered by the Charles Manson family in 1969, prompting the director to unleash his sadness and anger into this movie. But the film's attitude is also consistent with that of Polanski's work as a whole in its concern with power games and its cynical questioning of conventional ideas of heroism.

The film is made up of single-camera shots, with which the audience becomes the witness. Almost all the dialogues lack music playing in the background, all that remains are words. Both Lady Macbeth, whom many consider tamer and softer than usual, and Macbeth are much younger than tradition goes. Polanski's Lady Macbeth is an ambitious woman who rules her husband with her sexual power and whose strength shatters when she witnesses the disastrous outcome of her plans. The reason she is portrayed so is explained by Polanski in an interview: "The directors always present Lady Macbeth as a nagging bitch. But people who do ghastly things in life, they are not grim, like a horror movie."

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Movies - Macbeth

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