Prime Time: Lady Macbeth (2016)

Okay, first thing's first, in the interest of clarity and transparency, I rewatched another film last night that I was going to review today for the standard Prime Time slot. And then I found that I had already written a full review for it. I thought it was one I was due to rewatch, but that turned out not to be the case. So I had to regroup. This morning. Now. Lady Macbeth is available as a free choice on Prime IF you are able to grab a 7-day free trial for the BFI Player. I wouldn't usually make it an option for this particular review slot, but desperate times require desperate measures. Normal service should resume shortly.

Everyone knows that Florence Pugh is a star nowadays, and many people will have realised that from quite early on in her career, but I remember the first time I was impressed by her versatility and presence. I had seen three films in the spaces of a few weeks, all featuring her in a main role, and I could have easily been watching three different actresses. Those films were Midsommar, Fighting With My Family, and this one, Lady Macbeth.

Pugh plays Katherine Lester here, a woman who we see trapped in a loveless marriage. There's a decent estate, but that's all. Things look due to improve slightly, however, when Katherine's husband (Alexander, played by Paul Hilton) and her father-in-law (Boris, played by Christopher Fairbank) head off for a while. That allows Katherine to enjoy some freedom, which also allows her to enjoy some carnal pleasure with one of the workers, Sebastian (Cosmo Jarvis). Secret trysts don't always stay secret for long though, and the stage is set for some treachery, murder, and some souls to be forever stained with blood.

Based on a book by Nikolai Leskov, adapted into feature film form by Alice Birch, who made a hell of a debut here and has then gone from strength to strength throughout the last decade, Lady Macbeth is also the first feature from director William Oldroyd. It seems to have been a perfect convergence of emerging talent, allowing the central trio of director, writer, and star to create something phenomenal without any weight of expectation. It's a slow and quiet film, with many shots composed to create visuals that wouldn't look out of place in a portrait gallery, but it's also constantly enthralling as it builds intensity on the way to what everyone expects to be a dark and downbeat final act.

Pugh is perfect in her role, moving deftly from oppressed to oppressor with grace and a mounting strength. It would be easy for her performance to overshadow the others, but praise is also due to Jarvis, Hilton, Fairbank, Naomi Ackie (playing another staff member, Anna), Golda Rosheuvel, and Anton Palmer for working so well with the material that they still feel as if they matter, even when it becomes clear that those around our leading lady are there to be manipulated and dealt with by our leading lady.

While there are few susprises in the material, it's certainly laid out for you in the title of the film, the treats come from how it is all presented. There's a nice balance of dirt and polish, helped by Ari Wegner's cinematography, as well as the entire team behind the camera. The wonderfully ominous music from Dan Jones also helps, underpinning what basically feels like a fresh spin on a very familiar tale with a darkness that resonates through even the very occasional moments of light and fresh air.

Those who may have been put off by the title, perhaps thinking it would be something too beholden to the language of Shakespeare, should shrug off that wariness. This is a stunning modern classic that is well worth your time.

9/10

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Mubi Monday: Earwig (2021)

There are many ways to choose what you want to write about when you spend so much time watching and reviewing movies. A lot of people online will prefer to write about something they love or hate. It makes the whole thing easier, and the end result will often appeal to the binary nature of discourse that seems to get the most internet traffic. It’s harder to write about something that you just thought was okay, especially when there’s no clear standard narrative. But I figured that I should write about Earwig anyway.

Paul Hilton plays Albert, a man tasked with the care of a young girl named Mia (played by Romane Hemelaers). Mia has dentures that have to be fitted daily, and Albert empties out the side fittings that collect saliva. In another plot strand, Céleste (Romola Garai) is a wounded woman who is assisted in her recuperation by a man named Laurence (Alex Lawther). These two threads intertwine, but in a strange and insubstantial way, like wisps of smoke rising into the air while winding around one another, and the ending raises just as many questions as the opening scenes.

Based on a novel by Brian Catling, which may or may not spell things out in a much clearer way than the movie, this may be a murky and muddled mess for most of the runtime, but it was always an intriguing one. I certainly preferred Earwig to the last film I saw from director Lucile Hadzihalilovic (Evolution), which also had her working with Geoff Cox on the writing side of things. This is a challenging and obtuse film, but answers feel tantalisingly close, and I have no qualms about considering it as a unique take on vampirism (there are certainly enough small details to make that a valid interpretation).

Visually, you get a world of browns and browny-greens. It’s an oppressive colour scheme throughout, making viewers feel as if they fell asleep and woke up in the bedroom of someone hosting a 1970s dinner party during the winter solstice. Everything is dark and muted, as well as being potentially dangerous, and the style certainly matches the atmosphere that the movie has in almost every frame.

While the performances are very good from all involved, they are mannered and stilted in a way that shows the characters to be seriously restricted in a variety of ways, whether reliant on others for help, waiting for instructions, or just incapable of accepting events unfolding around them. The film belongs to those crafting the visuals, but the leads have to do try hard with the sparse dialogue to convey a hefty selection of conflicting thoughts.

From Don’t Look Now to Let The Right One In, from The Shining to the filmography of Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Earwig is never far from some influential touchstones, which helps the pacing while adding to the frustrating lack of any real clarity.

I ended up enjoying this, and I am happy with my final interpretation of it, but it made me work hard for that enjoyment. And I cannot say that the effort was completely worth it.

6/10

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