Wow! Such a good movie.

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

A Masterpiece!

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The story was idiotic and would only be considered intelligent by someone who lacks the ability to reason and think logically. It's another one of those just plain weird for weird's sake that passes for art nowadays. Has absolutely nothing to do with Shakespeare's Macbeth. Saw it in a small theater with only a dozen people in it and no one thought it was a good flick. Even the guy showing the movie apologized to the rest of us, justifying his selection based on reviews that stated it was up for awards in Britain. It was a free showing, but I'm still out an hour and a half of my life that I'll never get back. I gave it two stars because the camera was in focus for all of it.

In 19th-century rural England, a young bride who has been sold into marriage discovers an unstoppable desire within herself as she enters into an affair with a worker on her estate. Lady Macbeth is an overrated porn with way to many sex scenes and racism against black people rather than a good and well made film. The acting is terrible, the plot is terrible and the sex scenes are boring go and see something better. (0/10)

Within minutes, "Lady Macbeth" sets a familiar period romance stage: a very young woman in 19th century rural England is sold into marriage to a cold fish husband and an even nastier father-in-law and in her isolation begins an affair with the stable groom on the family estate. We immediately sympathize with Katherine (Florence Pugh) and her desire to claim some free will from the clutches of a stifling patriarchy - and then the film starts earning its Shakespearean title.Director William Oldroyd's meticulous period mies en scene and portrait-like framing of Katherine's life and her ill-advised romance suddenly begins to unravel at the edges with some pivotal choices that create a jarring incongruity of tones. In an assured feature film debut, Oldroyd chilling tries to maintain the film's quiet, poise and elegance amidst the story's growing chaos and darkness.Adapted from Nikolai Leskov's "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk," a novella released during the film's time period, screenwriter Alice Birch's choice to tell this story in England emphasizes its Shakespearean qualities and makes it more palatable for Western audiences. The film earns its lofty title by depicting Katherine's slowly rising ambition as she works desperately to maintain their illicit romance with Sebastian (Cosmo Jarvis) and the freedom that accompanies it.Like any story aspiring to Shakespearean levels, "Lady Macbeth" has somewhat of a three-act structure, only the "acts" are tied loosely together by Katherine's character arc - the conflicts and problems established early on do not swell in the way traditional stories do due to Katherine's decisive actions that change her circumstances. For a 20-year-old actress, Pugh gets a rare opportunity to establish dramatic prowess and comes off remarkably beyond her years. She embodies the clash of poise and passion Oldroyd aims for, often staying composed in body and voice while the story goes off the rails.The film doesn't sell us on its central romance, but the romance elements do reveal themselves to be ancillary to the film's actual genre - crime drama. Little about Katherine and Sebastian's relationship pulls us deeply into their situation and makes us feel more deeply about the choices they must make, but the film does sell us on their desperation and why they might feel as though they must do anything for each other. What at the onset we're lead to believe is a film about doing "anything for love" turns out to be more about autonomy and liberation.Class therefore plays a big part of the movie, and more specifically the power dynamics that come with it. For the first several minutes, Katherine has no power. She appears to have no more right to do as she pleases than the servants on the estate, including her handmaiden, Anna (Naomi Ackie), who is black. When we see Katherine and Anna in a scene together, however, we watch Katherine exert her power as lady of the house and watch Anna struggle to take any action of her own volition, a privilege that her position does not allow her - and one Katherine takes for granted.These different class and power dynamics give Oldroyd an opportunity in the camera's framing. Cleverly, when a character moves out of the frame, rather than cutting to a new angle, he will maintain the existing shot and allow the character to break the frame. In a few key spots, this accentuates the class distinctions and highlights their critical role in how the story unfolds. Whereas Shakespeare was into doling out extreme consequences for extreme action, "Lady Macbeth" takes a different route with resolving the story's ever-mounting darkness that has its own chilling effect. It makes "Lady Macbeth" into a decisively more modern film in that it's more interested in choices than morals. The story's roots in the hallmarks of classic literature, however, do keep the plot rather simple and put more onus on Oldroyd to create something engaging and new out of familiar ideas. He does that to enough of an extent that "Lady Macbeth" deserves notice.~Steven CThanks for reading! Visit Movie Muse Reviews for more

In a 19th century English country estate, Katherine has been forced into a loveless marriage with Alexander Lester. He is unable to consummate the marriage. His father Boris is a strict ruthless businessman. While Alexander and Boris are away, the estate hands have stripped black housemaid Anna naked to be weighted like livestock. She has a passionate affair with the aggressive new groomsman Sebastian.This is great emotional and physical brutality throughout the movie. Sebastian is the classic bad boy and Katherine easily falls into him. She is more complicated than a heroine in distress. Florence Pugh delivers a performance beyond her age. There is so much stoic power and defiance in her. What she does with the chair made me laugh in disbelief. One expected a shrinking violet for her character at the start but she is much more delicious than that. She is a creature of beautiful ugliness.