If you’ve been following this site, then you would have known that Lady Macbeth has already been reviewed on this site. For a deeper analysis, I recommend you read MovieManDan’s earlier review. I won’t be doing a full on review per se but since it is a big film, I thought I’d share some of my thoughts on it. He liked it despite some flaws and I’m probably in the same boat although I did like it slightly more than he did.
For showtimes and more, check out Lady Macbeth on movietimes.com.
The film felt very similar to an earlier film called My Cousin Rachel. For those who don’t know, that film was about a woman named Rachel (Rachel Weisz) who may or may not have killed a young man’s (Sam Claflin) caretaker. That film was ambiguous as to whether or not she was a gold digger with more devious intentions but one of the problems with that film was that those intentions weren’t the most clear. One of the problems with this film was the same as that one because Katherine’s motivations weren’t the most clear. Was what she did for female empowerment or was it more for personal reasons?
Women were definitely not treated the same way as they were in Victorian times so Katherine was just trying to find a place for herself and to be heard. With her husband gone, this gave her the opportunity to come out of her shell a little bit. Was she waiting for her husband to leave or were these feelings always there? This wasn’t the clearest. After falling in love with Sebastian, she wanted to be with him and was willing to do anything for them to be together. The story got extremely tense as her actions escalated to the point that even Sebastian couldn’t handle it anymore.
The film had a great sense of authenticity, from the costumes, to the set design, to the dialogue. While the Victorian setting had the potential to be more of a boring watch but instead boasts impressive cinematography, beautiful countrysides, and compelling characters. Florence Pugh’s incredibly nuanced performance as Katherine made up for some of the character’s deficiencies although it was a little too restrained. She also had great chemistry with Cosmo Jarvis as Sebastian and her servant Anna (Naomi Ackie).
Overall, this was a good drama with an arguably messy message and unoriginal story but at least is beautiful to look at, is long enough, and features an excellent performance by Florence Pugh in the lead role.
Score: 7.5/10
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The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.