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Macbeth (1971)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:22
Fresh:19
Rotten:3
Average Rating:8/10
Consensus: Roman Polanski's Macbeth is unsettling and uneven, but also undeniably compelling.
Synopsis: William Shakespeare's immortal play about a Scottish warrior (Jon Finch) whose wife's lust for power transforms him into inhuman monster is given it's rawest, most brutal screen treatment in this... William Shakespeare's immortal play about a Scottish warrior (Jon Finch) whose wife's lust for power transforms him into inhuman monster is given it's rawest, most brutal screen treatment in this version by Roman Polanski (ROSEMARY'S BABY, CHINATOWN). Filmed in suitably bleak locales and imbued with nudity not usually seen in the works of Shakespeare--along with realistically gory murders--this MACBETH is singular and sensational, but is not for the young or faint of heart. [More]
Starring: Jon Finch, Nicholas Selby, Francesca Annis, Martin Shaw
Starring: Jon Finch, Nicholas Selby, Francesca Annis, Martin Shaw
Director: Roman Polanski
Director: Roman Polanski
Reviews for Macbeth
Polanski elicited naturalistic understated performances from his actors which bolstered the play's realism while bringing the poetry down to earth. Some would argue he brought it too far down.
The wide-screen visuals swamp the dialogue, and the thematics have been turned inside out -- but that's what movie adaptations ought to do.
Polanski has increased the film's barbaric realism and fills the screen with blood, mud and brooding atmosphere.
Polanski's evident desire to elicit understated, naturalistic performances from his cast also underplays the poetry of the play...
Released just two years after Polanski's then pregnant wife was brutally murdered by members of the Manson family, and morbidly preoccupied with violence and cruelty
An over-the-top bu highly effective adaption of the Shakespeare classic with Polanski's disctinctive touches.
With its apparent fixation on murder and cruelty, it is difficult to overlook a number of the unsettling autobiographical details in the film.
This is an original film by an original film artist, and not an 'interpretation.'
The film's bear-baiting, barnyard pageantry is less convincing than its clammy locations.
Forces Shakespeare into the modern terrain of sickly spiralling sensibilities, with blood, lust, and madness at the forefront.
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