Lady Macbeth - William Oldroyd (2017)

Oh my God and holy hell!

If we went back in time to the beginning of the year, I would tell you that there was no way there was going to be a better film to come out in 2017 than Gordon Peele's "Get Out."

Now we may have a contender. A more subtle one, but a contender nonetheless.

"Lady Macbeth" starts quietly and with very little ado.

Katherine (Florence Pugh) has been sold along with a small piece of land. She is forced to marry a middle-aged boorish man, Alexander (Paul Hilton.)

Katherine is a meek girl and is treated roughly. Aside from her husband, there is her new father-in-law, Boris (Christopher Fairbank) who is even more of a bully than his son.

When Boris and Alexander leave the estate, Elizabeth roams the grounds and comes across a group of workers. Notably Sebastian, (Cosmo Jarvis) who stands out, seemingly as crude as her new family. Almost immediately, without warning, the two find a ferocious hunger for each other.

But, like love, lust knows no bounds and has no rules. The couple's sexual relationship winds up and hits the ground running. Elizabeth and Sebastian spend most of their time making love, hardly coming up for air.

At first, one gets the feeling that the pair believes themselves to be careful about covering up the affair. What they do not realize is that the nature of sex is to confess itself. People have a nose for detecting it.

Elizabeth's lady's maid Anne (Naomi Ackie) is the first to verify her own suspicions. Anna is crucial to both the story and theme of "Lady Macbeth." She serves as the conscience of the film.

When Boris returns ahead of his son, he quickly figures out what has been going on while they were away from the estate. Boris is a nasty old bastard, solely defined by his cruelty. He looks like Mitch McConnell with huge sideburns.

Now that Elizabeth is no longer a demure, submissive woman, she takes matters into her own hands and takes care of Boris.

The only other person who knows what Elizabeth has done is Anna, the one character who stands by and watches in horror at each diabolical move her mistress makes.

With Boris gone, Elizabeth and Sebastian are left to their own naked devices. Then, the worst happens. Her husband, Alexander, is back. He has known for a while now that his wife was banging the help. And wickedness breeds more of the same.

The rest of the film speaks to the very nature of wickedness. Shameful deeds only lead to more and more cruelty. Evil itself is the protagonist of "Lady Macbeth."

Sin affects each sinner differently. One will grow a conscience while the other becomes callous.


When it looks like everything Elizabeth and Sebastian have done may come to light, they spiral down to a place where one can never return.

Just as in life, some sinners will horrify themselves with what they have become while others will focus only on self-defense.

"Lady Macbeth" is a warning that if you start with even the smallest trespass, you could find yourself sunk in the mud up past your eyeballs.

This film is hypnotic, intensely sexual and uncommonly wise.

Every single scene in "Lady Macbeth" is each its own story with a beginning, middle and an end. You end up watching dozens of small narratives strung together. The shots are held, sometimes for an uncomfortable amount of time, until the story is over. Editor Nick Emerson pulls all of these scenes and weaves them into one horribly wonderful story.

I should give you fair warning. I am a pretty desensitized and numb guy when it comes to the contents of the films I watch. But there was one long sequence in this film that I had a very time difficult time watching. I wanted to turn away myself, so I just want to give you a heads up not to watch this film lightly. If you watch this scene, it will disturb you. That's just a heads up for the faint of heart.

Other than that, for the love of God, see one of the best films of the year. "Lady Macbeth" is on its last legs of its theatrical release. Don't expect it to be at your art-house for much longer. Time is of the essence.