Joel Coen
The Tragedy of Macbeth

Released on Apple TV yesterday after a long wait, Joel Coen’s Macbeth (The Tragedy of Macbeth) is finally visible in all its splendor.

Before talking about the film, a preliminary remark is necessary. For the first time, the elder of the two Minnesota brothers appears without Ethan, who for over thirty years, from Blood Simple (1984) to The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018), shared every creation, every production, and every set with him. Thirty years of projects together, with which these two brilliant authors have marked the history of cinema with unforgettable and fundamental works for all of us.

Seeing today the first film by Coen and not the Coen Brothers feels strange, and not seeing Ethan's name - officially no longer interested in filmmaking - among the credits, leaves a sense of melancholy.

According to Joel himself, moreover, this film would never have come to light with his brother. This consideration makes it clear how important, personal, and significant this work was for the older brother.

This brings us to thoughts on the new adaptation of perhaps the most famous Shakespearean tragedy, at least the one most loved by the great masters of cinema. No other work of the Bard, in fact, can count on so many adaptations by other masters. Welles, Polanski, Kurosawa, Tarr (though the latter only for TV)... It's challenging for anyone to compare with such names. And to say, personally, even Justin Kurzel’s Macbeth, dating only a few years ago, I didn't mind at all. A visual experience of considerable account.

But to make a real comparison between all these versions, one would have to rewatch them closely to grasp every nuance that the respective directors have given to the story of spirits, prophecies, blood, betrayal, power, and death of the great English poet.

In essence, it is about capturing the variation on the theme that each filmmaker wished to stage according to their aesthetic taste and vision of these characters who have become archetypal, like Lord Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. In Kurzel’s film, for example, great emphasis was placed on the grief of the future King of Scotland's wife, which conditions her psychology and lust for power. A magnificent Marion Cotillard brought to life an intense and memorable Lady Macbeth, never so human and poignant.

Polanski, on the other hand, conditioned by the personal tragedy of Cielo Drive, created a brutal and particularly truculent and cruel experience. My absolute favorite version remains Throne of Blood, in which Kurosawa set the Tragedy in medieval Japan, thus giving, despite the substantial fidelity to the text, an originality certainly superior to all other film reductions.

These are nuances, and every difference is therefore relative, but not devoid of interest or meaning, on the contrary. But for me, the main evaluation must be stylistic and aesthetic in cases like this. Joel Coen is certainly not the latest arrival. His presents as an extremely refined and cultured Macbeth, drawing as much on German expressionism as on Dreyer and masterpieces like Dies Irae, without forgetting Welles' own film.

The focus, perhaps in this case more than in any other, is the relationship between the two spouses (Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand both perfect), and greater is the sense of guilt and initial hesitation on the part of the general in betraying his King, thus betraying the principles of honor and loyalty towards his Sovereign.

This Coen version is not particularly crude or explicit, in fact, very restrained from this point of view.

The visual experience is rewarding and exquisite.

Although it's yet another Macbeth in images, as far as I'm concerned, films like this are always good for cinema.

It's a pity just not to have been able to experience it in the cinema, where it would have deserved to be enjoyed more.