Polanski teams with two other dirty old prevs, Ken Tynan and Hugh Hefner, to tackle Shakespeare. The public didn't go for it. You can see why. Lacks stars - Jon Finch and Fresesca Annais aren't bad, they're fine, but to get people to go to Shakespeare I think they needed to be amazing.
The press lost their minds over the nude scene. I mean, lost it. It's very short and in context and works - livens up the piece. Less controversy and more confronting are the murder of Lady Macduff and her son - this is Manson-esque, people screaming and cackling off screen, murderers come in, the kid is young and has just had a bath (he's in a towel), scene of domesticity, they stab the kid, other people being raped by hippie surrogates, as the house burns. It's shocking. Tremendously effective. As is the murder of Duncan, Banquo.
The rest is less compelling. Am I that in love with violence? I'd like to think not. It's getting in the head of the leads. Finch isn't helped by the soliloquies being done in terms of voice over. It distances the audience. I think that decision and the casting of the leads is what hurt it. (Imagine Anthony Hopkins and Glenda Jackson. Apparently Polanski wanted Tuesday Weld who turned it down but she turns down everything. He's conception of Lady Macbeth of a nyphmette in hindsight is, uh...
The sets are amazing. The direction, blocking, costumes. The feel of is incredible. Maybe too long.
Undercast in minor roles (eg Macduff) though I liked Martin Shaw as Banquo.
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