MACBETH

Starring Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard

Lady M goes to town with her eye shadow!

I hesitated before buying my ticket to the latest cinematic treatment of one of the Bard's classics -- in spite of its stellar lead actors -- wary of sitting through yet another stage-bound retelling of a work I know so well. Boy, was I in for a surprise! This film doesn't simply 'open-up' the play, it de-constructs and re-constructs it into the time and place where it was originally set: the wild Scottish Highlands where witches and omens co-exist with the harsh realities of life in the Middle Ages.

The landscape -- fog and fire and breathtaking natural wonders (filmed on the Isle of Skye, I learned later) -- grounds the action to a time and place where the gruesome events don't seem so out of place. Call it the "Game of Thrones" effect, but the grimness of the setting makes the blood-drenched action more believable. And there is a lot of blood: from the battle Macbeth wins to first early glory, to the chaotic murder of Duncan and his guards, to the final battle against MacDuff, you are immersed in it.
All of this comes at a price, however: the price of Shakespeare's beautiful verse. I was continually struggling to decipher the thick Scottish brogue in many of the line readings. Some of his most-cherished soliloquies sneak-up on you -- in a way that is both organic, yet somehow offhand. This worked effectively in Lady Macbeth's "Out, damned spot!" speech; less so in Macbeth's "Tomorrow, and tomorrow and tomorrow" (delivered by an otherwise excellent Michael Fassbender as he drags around his lifeless wife). A final word about said lifeless wife: Marion Cotillard was so good I almost wished they changed the script so Lady M wouldn't have to die! She nailed the English verse like a true professional. And she's French! The ultimate compliment (for this visual medium of film) is perhaps this fact: I spent the 'dead week' at work looking into B&Bs on Skye to wander the heath where this movie was filmed.

Rust and Bone

"Rust and Bone" is the latest film from French director Jacques Audiard ("Un Prophet" (2009)), and he once again delivers an audacious, gritty, and at-times beautiful film. The story revolves around Ali (a very good Matthias Shoenaerts), an out-of-work and out-of-money Belgian boxer forced to move in with his his older sister when he takes custody of his son from his drug-dealing mother. He takes a job as a bouncer and meets an unhappy Stephanie (Marion Cotillard) one night at the club. She works as an Orca-whale trainer for a SeaWorld-type outfit, until an accident renders her a double-amputee (no spoiler alert, as this happens early on and has received a great deal of media attention). The scene is not graphic, but since you know it is coming, it is quite suspenseful.

Aside from the technical wizardry of showing the lovely Mlle. Cotillard as a double amputee (she swims! She has sex! She gets tattoos!), the film is matter of fact about her physical struggles; it is more concerned with her psychological journey to reshape her life and identity. Not wearing a bit of make-up and sullen throughout the film, she remains stunning; you cannot take your eyes off of her. Regrettably, the film focuses more on Ali and their relationship, who is really a brute and somewhat of a louse. But he undergoes a slow redemption as well.

Two characteristics recur from Audiard's previous, Oscar-nominated film: 1) the subject matter--the lower end of French society ("Un Prophet" took place in a French prison); and 2) a soundtrack dominated by American songs (he memorably used a Jimmie Dale Gilmore tune in his last movie; here, he uses a Bruce Springsteen song from "Nebraska" at a pivotal moment).

One drawback in comparison to his previous film: Audiard introduces a needless subplot involving corporate snooping on employees that entangles both Ali and his sister. It is a leaden attempt to make a political point, and it belongs in another movie. In spite of its rather bleak, unvarnished portrait of life on the margins of society, "Rust and Bone" is a well-made and compelling film that I recommend seeing (but I cannot explain the title).