The Tragedy of Macbeth (Macbeth) (1971)
Average Rating: 7.7/10
Reviews Counted: 25
Fresh: 21 | Rotten: 4
Roman Polanski's Macbeth is unsettling and uneven, but also undeniably compelling.
Average Rating: 5/10
Critic Reviews: 5
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 3
Roman Polanski's Macbeth is unsettling and uneven, but also undeniably compelling.
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Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 8,469
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"Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" - but the bodies keep piling up today, from the opening battle, to the beheading of the traitor Cawdor, to the - onscreen - murder of Duncan, to the electrifying final duel to the death (at each clash of metal on metal, and flesh on stone wall, Polanski cut a single frame of film, making the impact almost palpable). His first work after the Manson massacre of his wife and friends, Polanski's graphic adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy of ambition, as Jon
Oct 13, 1971 Wide
May 7, 2002
Columbia Pictures
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All Critics (27) | Top Critics (5) | Fresh (21) | Rotten (4) | DVD (12)
Does Polanski's Macbeth work? Not especially, but it was an admirable try.
Top CriticThe wide-screen visuals swamp the dialogue, and the thematics have been turned inside out -- but that's what movie adaptations ought to do.
Polanski's evident desire to elicit understated, naturalistic performances from his cast also underplays the poetry of the play...
This is an original film by an original film artist, and not an 'interpretation.'
The film's bear-baiting, barnyard pageantry is less convincing than its clammy locations.
If you're a fan of Shakespeare or Polanski, you won't want to miss this.
a bloody, rip-roaring good time
Polanski's worldview of brutish power-plays couldn't be more at home in Shakespeare's medieval times
Polanski elicited naturalistic understated performances from his actors which bolstered the play's realism while bringing the poetry down to earth. Some would argue he brought it too far down.
Polanski has increased the film's barbaric realism and fills the screen with blood, mud and brooding atmosphere.
Released just two years after Polanski's then pregnant wife was brutally murdered by members of the Manson family, and morbidly preoccupied with violence and cruelty
Something of a disappointment.
Polanski's movie is the quintessential film version of the Scottish play.
An over-the-top bu highly effective adaption of the Shakespeare classic with Polanski's disctinctive touches.
With its apparent fixation on murder and cruelty, it is difficult to overlook a number of the unsettling autobiographical details in the film.
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Foreign Titles
- Macbeth (DE)
- The Tragedy of Macbeth (UK)
