Roman Polanski Film Analysis

Roman Polanski 's 1971 film version is memorable for its explicit violence. Polanski makes a number of interesting stylistic choices to emphasize the themes of ambition, guilt, and the corruption associated to power. From his innovative position, the most intriguing choice was the decision to cast Francesca Annis as Lady Macbeth. Traditionally, Lady Macbeth is an older figure in the story, and her power over Macbeth is that of a strong-willed wife. But, by casting a 26-year old physically attractive woman, Polanski is able to pervade Lady Macbeth and her machinations with an additional layer of seductiveness. This can be critical, because while the initial inspiration for Macbeth’s power-grab is certainly given by the witches, it is Lady Macbeth who insists her husband, for example as they talk about Duncan in Act 1 Scene 7 she says: “We fail? But screw your courage to the

The original sleepwalking scene opens with a meeting between the doctor and the gentlewoman who indicates that Lady Macbeth has been walking in her sleep. Carrying a candlestick, Lady Macbeth enters sleepwalking. In Polanski 's scene, Lady Macbeth is in her bedroom, sitting at her desk. It is the doctor and the gentlewoman that come to her. Lady Macbeth is also supposed to leave the scene, but in this case, the other characters gently help her into her bed. In this adaptation the surroundings are more relevant than Francesca Annis ' performance. Her somnambulism is explicit as in the first few seconds of the scene, the doctor waves his hand in front of her eyes that do not blink. Her candlestick isn 't the only light that illuminates the room. In the background there is a fireplace that helps to enlighten her surroundings but can also be a metaphor for where Lady Macbeth 's mind is. “Hell is murky”, that quote reveals she is in hell, and the fire represents the wickedness and the darkness of the place she currently