Florence Pugh Christopher Fairbank Cosmo Jarvis Bill Fellows Paul Hilton Naomi Acki
Oh, what a fine production, poetically
capturing the human character so completely and mysteriously it’s transfixing
to the very end. This is more a
takeoff of the Shakespearean play than a re-interpretation, but contains many
of the same elements of obsession, cold desperation, guilt, and betrayal. Except for the well experienced
Christopher Fairbank who plays Boris, the husband of Katherine (Pugh), the
director, writer and most of the cast have worked primarily in television,
which may account for the sense of freshness. But it can also be attributed to the novel by Nikolai Leskov
on which the screenplay was adapted.
Leskov, originally from a wealthy family who
subsequently lost its estate, traveled widely in Russia, acquainting himself
with all kinds of people. He was a
novelist, short-story writer, playwright, and journalist. Politically, his sympathies were with
Leon Tolstoy, and his truthfulness made him a pariah in some circles, but he
was admired not only by Tolstoy but also by Maxim Gorky and Anton Chekhov. His novel, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District, was ignored at first but later
praised for containing illuminating stories about female characters from all
classes of society.
The movie opens with the young Katherine being
dressed by her handmaid Anna (Acki) on what appears to be a wealthy
estate. She is married to an
acerbic older man who shows no interest in her, and their bedroom scenes set
the stage for the bizarreness that is to come. Katherine is impressive in her quiet politeness and
compliance with Alexander (Hilton), her husband, although she appears to be
very self-possessed and even commanding with Anna and other workers on the
estate. “Are you cold?” asks
Anna. “No, I’m quite
thick-skinned.” She relishes
“taking the air” by going outdoors.
While she’s out, she comes upon one of the
field workers, Sebastian (Jarvis), and at first she is authoritative because he
has clearly not been working, but there is something about him…and she is going
to seek him out again. A pot
begins to boil, and instead of the Shakespearean Lady Macbeth saying, “Out,
out, damned spot”, this Lady Macbeth will say, “Out, out, anyone who stands in
my way.” The lovers playfully
quote a psalm praising a figure (the Messiah) who comes “from heaven” “to save
me”, “my debt to pay.” Will
Sebastian be that Messiah for Katherine as she hopes?
The story gets embellished with the maid (Acki)
becoming mute, the discovery of a ward of Boris, and multiple deaths. It’s intriguing, comical, and
suspenseful all at the same time.
Florence Pugh is a real star in evoking all the associations the viewer
will have in watching her. The
film is mostly on her shoulders, and she carries it ably. Praise to William Oldroyd and Alice
Birch for bringing this innovative and captivating story to us.
Take only a peek and you won’t be able
to stop watching this captivating film.
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