There is fog but not much filthy air to be found in Joel Coen’s bright, clean, stripped-down Shakespeare adaptation. Directing for the first time without his brother and regular collaborator Ethan, Coen casts Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand as the scheming, murderous couple seeking to secure the Scottish throne.
The film has a cold, abstract beauty. The castle is a marvel of brutalist architecture, while Bruno Delbonnel’s stark black-and-white cinematography emphasises the set’s harsh lines and shadows. The three witches who prophesy Macbeth’s fate are reimagined as one “weird sister”. She is played by the acclaimed stage actor Kathryn Hunter, who snaps, twists and contorts her body to terrifying, memorable effect. The other performances feel more muted. Washington has a natural authority that lends itself to the role, but McDormand is vacant and glassy-eyed. Both should be bloodthirsty, yet instead are bloodless – too measured to match the mania of the source text.
In cinemas now and on Apple TV+ from 14 January
