Lady Macbeth

Based on a novel by Nikolai Leskov, Lady Macbeth follows Florence Pugh’s Katherine, a 19th-century woman who’s been sold into marriage, as she slowly-but-surely begins standing up for herself in an escalatingly (and exceedingly) brutal manner. It’s ultimately clear that Lady Macbeth fares best in its opening stretch, as director William Oldroyd and scripter Alice Birch deliver a first act devoted almost entirely to Katherine’s somewhat plotless escapades inside her new home – with the fairly fascinating vibe perpetuated by Pugh’s stirring turn as the far-from-complacent central character. There’s just enough context contained within Birch’s screenplay to keep things interesting, and there’s little doubt, as well, that the movie benefits heavily from its initial emphasis on Katherine’s almost fish-out-of-water-like exploits. Lady Macbeth‘s grip on the viewer begins to weaken, then, as it progresses into its more conventional midsection, as Oldroyd and Birch stress a series of predictable plot developments that pave the way for a spinning-its-wheels second half – which, in turn, ensures that the few surprising moments that crop up aren’t able to make the impact that Oldroyd is obviously striving for. And although the movie admittedly does boast a stirring final few minutes, Lady Macbeth‘s positive attributes are ultimately cancelled out by a middle that just doesn’t, for the most part, work at all.

** out of ****