Film review: 'Lady Macbeth'

"Lady Macbeth" is a quiet, chilling thriller about surprisingly morally bereft individuals. It's slow and methodical but packs a massive punch when all is said and done.

The film is based on a Russian novella written in 1865 by Nikolai Leskov, inspired by Shakespeare's play. Set in rural 19th-century England, it's the tale of 17-year-old Katherine (Florence Pugh), who has been sold for marriage to Alexander (Paul Hilton), a nasty man twice her age. On their wedding night, he orders her, not unlike a drill-sergeant, to take off her nightdress and stop smiling. Marital bliss does not seem to be the direction in which this relationship is headed.

Starved for love and attention, Katherine hooks up with the stable hand, Sebastian (Cosmo Jarvis), with whom she becomes obsessed. Alexander's not home much, but his father, Boris (Christopher Fairbank), manages to make Katherine's life all the more unbearable in his absence. Her lust for Sebastian becomes diabolical and overt, fueled by some heavy wine-drinking. Katherine's maid, Anna (Naomi Ackie), is so disturbed by her behavior, she ceases speaking and moving about the manor as if in a trance.

When Katherine discovers that Alexander is aware of her affair, all hell breaks loose. Murder, mayhem and the killing of a horse are just the tip of Katherine's massive iceberg slowly melting down. Alexander also has a black illegitimate child, whom he has made a ward and will now reside in her home. 

"Lady Macbeth" plays out like a Victorian soap opera initially, but eventually evolves into a dark treatise on social injustice. In his first feature film, director William Oldroyd proves he's got what it takes to be an ace in his field. The sense of impending doom that he creates plays out at such a measured pace, we're caught off guard at every turn. His choice to use only three musical passages in scoring further intensifies the mounting fear.

But casting Pugh to portray this deceitful, intense and vindictive woman was pure genius. This is only her second performance in a motion picture, and it's riveting. Her flawless beauty is only surpassed by her immense talent.

"Lady Macbeth" is a film that gets under your skin. It examines a period in history when some people were nothing more than property, to be bought and sold. But it also finds us as an audience rationalizing very bad behavior ... up to a point.