Suffice it to say that the mushrooms that worked their magic in the patriarchal pressure cooker of Sofia Coppola’s “ The Beguiled” are just as effective here, across the Atlantic, during the same time period. The less you know about where the film goes from here, though, the better. (And yes, I realize this all sounds like the stuff of cheesy romance novels, but rest assured that “Lady Macbeth” is deadly serious.) A strong and handsome man of mixed race, Sebastian shows Katherine zero deference, which naturally drives her wild. Nowhere is that more evident than in the passionate, ill-advised affair Katherine hurtles headlong into with the estate’s groomsman, Sebastian ( Cosmo Jarvis). Pugh has a bracing naturalism within this chilly, restrained setting, making her a force of nature unto herself. Such an approach is fitting given the fascinating contradictions of our heroine. It matches the sound design, which is spare but intense. (As showy as Pugh’s performance is externally, Ackie does just as much mostly wordlessly with just her eyes and her presence, especially as the situation grows more extreme.) But when both of the oppressive men in her life are forced to leave the family’s remote estate on business, Katherine takes the opportunity to begin exploring the outside world – which prompts an awakening inside her.Ĭinematographer Ari Wegner gives the wild, sprawling grounds a grimy, tactile quality that’s bleakly beautiful. She slogs around the joyless house, day after day, with her ever-present maid, Anna ( Naomi Ackie), serving as the main witness to her boredom and frustration. “I’m thick-skinned,” she proclaims in the darkness of their bedroom, defiantly. Katherine’s sole purpose is to provide an heir, but it’s clear from the couple’s cold, sexless wedding night that’s going to be a challenge. But at just 17, Katherine is being forced into a marriage with a man more than twice her age: the emotionally withholding Alexander ( Paul Hilton), whose wealthy father, Boris ( Christopher Fairbank), has purchased Katherine along with a plot of land. This should, theoretically, be a joyous occasion. When we first see Pugh’s Katherine, it’s on her wedding day in 1865 just from this opening scene, Oldroyd efficiently sets the tone for the film’s prevailing austerity. “Lady Macbeth” is based not on the iconic Shakespearean character but on Nikolai Leskov’s Russian novella “Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk,” which tackled the ways in which the female spirit could be stifled in the 19 th century, particularly in rural communities. She does it all in the name of liberation, but that freedom ultimately comes at a hefty price. Part of what’s so fascinating about “Lady Macbeth,” and its script from Alice Birch, is the way in which it manages to maintain Pugh’s character’s status as a strangely sympathetic figure, even as she commits increasingly horrific acts. It’s a sinister light that radiates from her – although, not at first.
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