Oddly unemotional retelling

Rating: 6/10 (9 October 2015)

During Scottish civil wars, nobleman Macbeth and his friend Banquo receive prophecies from witches: they tell Macbeth he will become King. Macbeth's wife pressures him into making this prophecy come true by murdering King Duncan. He does so, but the assassination causes him more problems.
Shakespeare's tragedy of predestination has been filmed many times before and, here, stars Michael Fassbender as Macbeth and Marion Cotillard as Lady Macbeth. I was expecting great things from a film of a play I know well and love. And I got some great things, principally the look of the film which is truly bleak. I loved some of the visuals presented here.
But I wasn't terribly impressed with much of the rest. The determinedly Scottish accents mean that the dialogue is very often difficult to make out. Some of the performance and directorial choices are truly puzzling - Sean Harris' reaction on learning of the murder of his wife and children was strangely dispassionate (by contrast, showing their brutal murder directly at Macbeth's hand was very effective), and the decision for Lady Macbeth to deliver the "Out damned spot" speech in rather gentle fashion, while very much not washing her hands, was utterly mystifying: her descent into madness made little sense as shown.
In fact, the overall impression I got from most of the performances was emotional distance. This story, and the dialogue in which it is told, is visceral but, apart from some of the action, this film is not. The actors are all first rate, so the blame for a rather dispassionate reading of a classic play must lie with director Justin Kurzel. I highlight one major exception: Fleance's reaction to Banquo's death was wonderful.
The music, heavy with celtic pipes and, especially, groaning cellos, is intrusive, distracting, and composed by the director's brother. I did not feel it improved the film in any way.
Overall, I was pretty disappointed.