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A stark, highly stylized Shakespeare adaptation that turns ambition, guilt, and fate into a cold fever dream. Its austere black-and-white visuals, theatrical staging, and commanding performances make it a standout even for viewers who know the story well.
77% (242,217)
Where to watch: Apple
2021 · 1h 45m · ★ 77% (242.2K)
Director: Joel Coen
Starring: Denzel Washington, Frances McDormand, Alex Hassell
Macbeth, the Thane of Glamis, receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders his king and takes the throne for himself.
Joel Coen
IAC Films, A24
Denzel Washington, Frances McDormand, Alex Hassell, Bertie Carvel, Brendan Gleeson, Corey Hawkins, Harry Melling, Miles Anderson, Kathryn Hunter, Matt Helm, Moses Ingram, Scott Subiono, Brian Thompson, Lucas Barker, Stephen Root, Robert Gilbert, Ethan Hutchison, James Udom, Richard Short, Sean Patrick Thomas
Apple TV Plus
A stark, highly stylized Shakespeare adaptation that turns ambition, guilt, and fate into a cold fever dream. Its austere black-and-white visuals, theatrical staging, and commanding performances make it a standout even for viewers who know the story well.
Joel Coen’s Macbeth is less a conventional historical drama than a severe, sculpted nightmare. The stripped-down sets, sharp geometry, and monochrome photography create a world that feels both ancient and abstract, as if the play has been trapped inside a haunted soundstage.
Denzel Washington plays Macbeth with weary intelligence rather than brute force, while Frances McDormand gives Lady Macbeth a chilling, unsentimental edge. The film’s pleasure is not in novelty of plot but in precision of mood: every corridor, shadow, and pause seems designed to tighten the noose around the characters.
This is a film for viewers who like their classics reimagined with formal rigor. It can feel remote or deliberately severe, but if you respond to cinematic minimalism, fatalism, and language-driven drama, it lands with real force.
Jay (4★) · 10912 likes
“i dreamt of the three weird sisters” bro thats haim
brendan o'hare · 4952 likes
The witches basically spoil the entire movie
˗ˏˋ suspirliam ˊˎ˗ (5★) · 4124 likes
there’ll never be a better depiction of witches in cinema than this there’s just no way it can be topped.... truly a masterpiece in every way
itscharlibb (5★) · 3639 likes
watched this whilst george built lego
malik (5★) · 2650 likes
shakespeare in the studio like damn this story goes hard lets make it impossible to understand
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A ruthless portrait of ambition curdling into obsession, with a similarly monumental central performance.
Another black-and-white descent into madness and power struggle, with theatrical intensity and mythic overtones.
For viewers who appreciate austere pacing, formal experimentation, and a meditative relationship to time and grief.
A stylized period puzzle with visual rigor, dry wit, and a sense of hidden corruption beneath elegant surfaces.
A nightmarish, expressionistic descent into guilt and institutional dread that pairs well with this film’s oppressive mood.
ambition, guilt, fate, madness, power, betrayal, tyranny, prophecy
shakespeare adaptation, black-and-white cinematography, psychological tragedy, prestige drama, theatrical staging, fatalism, period piece, expressionist visuals, gothic mood, literary adaptation