What bloody man is that?

Rating: 8/10 (29 September 2015)

A visually impressive, intelligently adapted, atmospheric version of a very famous play. Michael Fassbender is stunning in the title role. What an actor he is! Brutal and sensitive, cruel and caressing, he handles the verse effortlessly, the fights viciously, and he radiates a huge wattage of charisma. He and Marion Cottilard make a convincingly sexy couple. She is not obvious casting - usually the role is the province of more steely performers. All the same, she makes a success of it, forceful in the electrically effective banquet scene, and touchingly melancholy as she drifts into the deep depression of her mad scene.
The supporting cast is terrific, the technical side superb, the score by the director's brother mesmerising. I have a couple of quibbles: the emphasis on interiority makes the pace feel insufficiently varied, and so much close-miking gives the impression that too much of the text is whispered. But on the whole this is a bravely envisioned, powerfully acted movie.