12 Best Film Adaptations Of Shakespeare's Tragedies

Based On: Macbeth

Adaptation:

This is relatively faithful but it's a very cinematic adaptation which actually prioritizes imagery over dialogue, but the narrative is the same. Michael Fassbender plays Macbeth, Marion Cotillard plays Lady Macbeth while the cast also includes Paddy Considine, Sean Harris and David Thewlis.

This is a truly underrated Shakespeare movie. Purists may like it less due to the lack of focus on the dialogue, but that shouldn't put anyone off the film. Part of the greatness of Shakespeare is the number of ways there are to interpret it, so this is just one interpretation of the material.

Filled with rage, intensity and graphic violence, this is a memorably physical and visceral vision that, despite the dialogue being trimmed, fully brings out the play's darkness. The film is also notable for its incredible cinematography, where every brilliantly-crafted shot flawlessly represents the descent into madness both main characters undergo.

Although the dialogue is trimmed, all the best lines are still there and Shakespeare's story is just as powerful as it always was. It is an exceptionally dark rendering of the play that's probably too intense to watch more than once, but it's not the kind of film you're likely to forget. Although Lady Macbeth's role is reduced rather annoyingly, Michael Fassbender's blisteringly intense and refreshingly sympathetic performance as Macbeth counterbalances that.

This undeserving box office bomb will hopefully be a cult classic in the future.