| Friday 7 January (15.45) | All tickets £6.50 |
Joel Coen adapts the Scottish play for the screen with Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand as the couple whose political ambitions are their fatal downfall.
Shakespeare’s iconic and much adapted text, written more than 400 years ago, gets a wonderfully fresh and singular reworking in Joel Coen’s first solo outing as a director. Conjuring a beguiling netherworld between theatre and cinema, this is a stunning production.
Cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel’s silvery monochrome images, captured in 4:3, are embellished by the moody, near-expressionistic sets by designer Stefan Dechant. Long-term Coens collaborator Carter Burwell provides a score that balances dramatic heft with pure emotion and builds to a spellcasting crescendo.
The cast includes Corey Hawkins as Macduff, Alex Hassell as Ross, plus Harry Melling, Brendan Gleeson and British theatre legend Kathryn Hunter. Leading them all are Washington’s haunted Macbeth and McDormand’s scheming Lady Macbeth – ‘That I may pour my spirits in thine ear and chastise with the valour of my tongue.’ Electrifying!