‎Lady Macbeth (2016) directed by William Oldroyd • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

Lady Macbeth

2016 Directed by William Oldroyd

The passionate affair of a young woman trapped in a marriage of convenience unleashes a maelstrom of murder and mayhem on a country estate.

Florence Pugh Cosmo Jarvis Paul Hilton Naomi Ackie Christopher Fairbank Golda Rosheuvel Anton Palmer Rebecca Manley Fleur Houdijk Cliff Burnett David Kirkbride Bill Fellows Nicholas Lumley Raymond Finn Ian Conningham Finn Burridge Jack Robertson Kema Sikazwe Elliot Sinclair Andrew Davis Alan Billingham Bailey Palmer

Country

Language

English

drama

89 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by davidehrlich ★★★★ 8

the milk of human kindness has most definitely gone sour.

can't remember the last time i saw anything that offered such a nuanced, slippery portrait of moral decline [insert joke about the GOP here].

highly recommended for fans of ladies, macbeth, the handmaiden, and / or murder on the moors.
Review by kevinyang ★★★½ 2

I'm making a list called "performances that are better than most of the 2018 Oscar nominations" and Florence Pugh is already on it.
Review by Wesley R. Ball ★★★½ 10

My mom: I wonder why they don't want her going outside at all?
*cuts to the 4th sex scene in ten minutes*
Mom: Maybe that's why.
Review by davidehrlich ★★★★ 2

There aren’t very many words spoken in William Oldroyd’s “Lady Macbeth” — most of the communication is done through sex, abuse, and murder — but not a one of them is wasted or forgotten. Indeed, the film’s emblematically terse first exchange looms over the 85 minutes that follow like a dark shadow on a bitter day, and it’s proof that Florence Pugh deserves more attention in this year’s competitive awards season.

It’s Katherine’s (Pugh) wedding night, and the 17-year-old bride is being dressed for her deflowering. Her new husband’s chambermaid does the honors, Anna (Naomi Ackie), slipping the girl into her nightgown. “Are you cold?” Anna asks, a valid question on a brutal winter night in the North of England…
Review by Josh Rosenthal ★★★★ 2

hell hath no fury like a woman bored.
Review by iana ★★★½ 2

if someone asks me what white feminism is i'll show them this movie

Recent reviews

Review by Haylie ★★★½

I appreciate pretty shots of dark stained wood and strange textured cats ... I do not appreciate 89% of this narrative
Review by marisa ★★★★½ 1

I can’t think of a better way to get through Hurricane Florence than watching Queen Florence Pugh dominate in this movie! We better watch out because she’s coming for her CROWN!
Review by halley ★★★½

For starters, I'll say that the ending entirely makes this movie. I think that, knowing what the ending reveals, I will go back and watch the film more intently than I did. Lady Macbeth is an undeniably dry film. I watched this movie when I was sick and bedridden-- maybe it was because I was in a medication-induced haze that I lost some interest toward the middle of the film? Or is it just drab?

At any rate, this all makes the movie seem a lot worse than it is. In fact, I thought that it is a brilliant look at female sexuality in a time and place that strictly restricted it. It is a dark fantasy of what many…
Review by Lester Ballard ★★

This left me entirely unmoved. Not only does Pugh play a character who needs to be carefully composed at all, but she herself carefully—too carefully—composes the performance with an eye on perception by an audience, specifically a modern one. The rare moments when this film does come to life are those when the liveliness of Catherine breaks through her façade—and as a result, life breaks through the intended stiltedness of the film—but even these flashes, enhanced by the juxtaposition of modern sensibility and period, setting seem cheaply earned in a film whose only point often seems to be the timelessness of the emotions and behavior portrayed.
Review by Ahmet Büyüksalih ★★★½

Firdevs mada faka queen
Review by ames ★★★★

i usually don't like period pieces, i find them to be quite boring but i was at the edge of my seat for the entire length of the film OOOOOOHHHH BIIIIIIITCH
Review by M_y_X_a

A constantly evolving organism, “Lady Macbeth” appears at first to be a study in sexual discovery ala “Belle de Jour,” but eventually morphs into an entirely different beast. A truly exciting discovery.
Review by Morgan ★★★½

I’m five minutes in and I’m just sickened by the behaviors on screen. I’m no modern repentant revisionist, but how did men get away with treating women so badly? Damn, we’ve come a long way to the point now where I can’t even fathom this. I mean, even if the one family is rough with their women, surely the girl’s family would have something to say about this no? And the answer is of course… no. That was just life and we can’t apply modern sensibilities to our past. Jarring, but exceptional in its presentation.

The pace of the film was British. It is a British film and so it should not be surprising, but I’m an American and don’t…
Review by thetallestmanu ★★★★

Of course this is based on a Russian novel, because Russia.