Lady Macbeth is a 2016 British period drama film directed by William Oldroyd, from a script by Alice Birch, and produced by Fodhla Cronin O'Reilly; it is the feature film debut for Oldroyd, Birch, and O'Reilly. Based on the 1865 novella Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District by Nikolai Leskov, it tells the story of Katherine Lester, a young woman who rids herself of controlling in-laws to live with her workman lover then secures her place in the landed gentry. The film stars Florence Pugh, Naomi Ackie, Cosmo Jarvis, Paul Hilton, and Christopher Fairbank.
With backgrounds in the theatre, Birch and Oldroyd wanted to make a different kind of British period drama. A lavish production, typical of the genre, was not possible on their micro budget. The story was moved from European Russia to Northumberland, England. Birch focused on the crime part of the novella, set in and around the family's house. By changing how that ended, she eliminated the punishment part, set elsewhere. Oldroyd's research suggested that the region was more racially diverse in the 19th century than is generally believed today. Colour-blind casting led to diversity in four key roles: in the principal cast Naomi Ackie as Anna and Cosmo Jarvis as Sebastian, and in the supporting cast child actor Anton Palmer as Alexander's ward Teddy and Golda Rosheuvel as Teddy's grandmother and legal guardian Agnes. This added the element of race to the themes of gender and class from the novella.
Lady Macbeth was a minimalist production. The Lesters's house was represented by a small number of sparsely furnished interiors at Lambton Castle in County Durham, and the characters had few costume changes. It was filmed in SeptemberOctober 2015 using mostly natural light and wide master shots of scenes that were often formally composed in a static frame. The film has an expressionist soundscape of people in the house and nature on the surrounding estate. The only music is an eerie theme which plays after each murder committed by Katherine.
Lady Macbeth had its world premiere at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival. It first went on general release in Europe during April 2017. The film received positive reviews and two European accolades. At the 2017 British Independent Film Awards, it won accolades for Pugh and Ackie's performances, the screenplay, cinematography and costume design. Lady Macbeth has grossed US$6.4million worldwide.
Plot In 1865, a young woman named Katherine joins the landed gentry by marrying Alexander Lester. His domineering father Boris bought Katherine to produce a legitimate heir with Alexander. They live on Boris's rural estate in Northumberland, England. Little of the couple's backstory emerges. She and her late mother shared an interest in walking and nature. He has a colliery and an illegitimate child across the county in Amble, and a repressed hatred of Boris.
Katherine prepares for the wedding night with her maid Anna, who serves the household with a younger maid and a cook. Alexander arrives and tells Katherine she should stay indoors despite her interests. He has a voyueristic interest in her but refuses to consummate their marriage, and she tires of her solitary indoor routine. One day, Alexander leaves for Amble, while Boris travels to London. In their absence, Katherine enjoys walking around the estate. Katherine finds the estate workmen abusing Anna in an outbuilding, where the men live. Having freed Anna, Katherine is intrigued by the ringleader Sebastian, and they soon begin an overt affair. Anna becomes concerned by Katherine's behaviour, while Katherine suspects Anna has shared her concerns with their priest.
Boris returns. Katherine has drunk his stock of Beaujolais, but Anna takes the blame, and Boris humiliates her. Boris hears about the affair. He beats Sebastian then locks him up. Having argued over Sebastian's release and the lack of an heir, Boris strikes Katherine across her face. The next day, she poisons his breakfast which includes mushrooms foraged by Anna. As Boris struggles in an adjacent room, Katherine orders Anna to sit with her until he falls silent. His death is not generally regarded as suspicious, but Anna is traumatized and goes mute. Alexander refuses to attend Boris's funeral.
Katherine moves Sebastian into the house. Late one night, she wakes as Alexander returns unexpectedly. They meet in their bedroom, while Sebastian hides in the closet. Having promised to dishonor Boris at his grave, Alexander confronts Katherine over the affair and the damage to his reputation. He says Sebastian will be dismissed, and she will live indoors. Katherine responds by fetching Sebastian for sex. As the men fight, Katherine arms herself with a poker then bludgeons Alexander to death. Evidence of Alexander's return is disposed of in woodland: Sebastian buries his body, while Katherine kills his horse with a shotgun. They live together as mistress and master. Enough time passes that Alexander is generally regarded as missing presumed dead.
A young boy and his grandmother, Teddy and Agnes, arrive to live in the house. Agnes explains that Alexander stayed with them in Amble then left to return home to Katherine. Teddy is his illegitimate son with her late daughter. Alexander made the boy his ward so, as Teddy's legal guardian, Agnes replaces Katherine as mistress. Sebastian resumes his working life but is resentful and avoids Katherine. Katherine realises she is pregnant. Trying to catch up with Sebastian, she upsets Teddy who runs away. Sebastian eventually finds him on a moorland cliff above a waterfall. He considers pushing Teddy over the edge but carries him back to the house to recover from the cold. Bursting in on Katherine, Agnes and doctor Burdon, Sebastian calls for blankets. Agnes objects to him giving orders and tells him to get out.
Sebastian feels humiliated and packs to leave the estate, but Katherine persuades him to stay. Teddy sleeps while Agnes watches him. Having persuaded Agnes to take a break, Katherine lets Sebastian in from outside. She smothers Teddy with a pillow, while he restrains the boy's legs. In the morning, Katherine claims Teddy must have died after she dozed off. However, the doctor notices Teddy was bruised overnight. Sebastian becomes overwhelmed. As a detective questions Katherine over the bruises, he enters and confesses his part in Teddy's death. Sebastian accuses Katherine of committing all three murders so they could live together. After listening impassively, Katherine counter-accuses him and Anna. She claims Teddy was like her own child, and Agnes comforts her. Anna remains mute when questioned. She and Sebastian are arrested. The household's staff leave the estate. Now alone, Katherine resumes her indoor routine.
Cast Florence Pugh as Katherine Lester Naomi Ackie as Anna Cosmo Jarvis as Sebastian Paul Hilton as Alexander Lester Christopher Fairbank as Boris Lester Golda Rosheuvel as Agnes Anton Palmer as Teddy Fleur Houdijk as the younger maid Tessa Rebecca Manley as the cook Mary Bill Fellows as doctor Burdon Cliff Burnett as the priest Father Peter Nicholas Lumley as Mr. Robertson Raymond Finn as Mr. Kirkbride Ian Conningham as detective Logan
Production Development Playwright Alice Birch shared the 1865 novella Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District by Nikolai Leskov with theatre director William Oldroyd. Creative England, BBC Films and the British Film Institute supported the iFeatures scheme to fund emerging talent making regional stories into low-budget features. Birch and Oldroyd pitched a story based on the novella to iFeatures. They received a micro budget for the first iFeatures period drama, and made the film for between US$440 and 650thousand. Lady Macbeth is the debut feature film for writer Birch, director Oldroyd, and producer Fodhla Cronin O'Reilly.
Pre-production Set in 1865, Birch's screenplay moved the first part of the novella from a house in the town of Mtsensk, European Russia to a rural estate in Northumberland, England. Oldroyd knew the region from his time at university in neighbouring County Durham. It had period country houses, built with the proceeds of mining the Durham and Northumberland Coalfields, and rural landscapes that could still pass for the 19th century.
In the novella and the screenplay, Lady Macbeth commits three murders in her family's house then her lover confesses his part in the crimes and accuses her. The key difference between the novella and the screenplay is her response. In the novella, Lady Macbeth chooses to remain with her working-class lover by confessing then the story continues with their lives as convicts. While in the screenplay, Katherine Lester as Lady Macbeth chooses to remain a member of the landed gentry by framing her lover Sebastian and her maid Anna then the story ends. This meant the screenplay was set in one location: the Lester estate. Oldroyd's summary of the approach was "By focusing on a few people in one location who don’t change their clothes very often we could direct all our energy towards the story and realise a radical drama that just happened to be set in the past."
Oldroyd's research suggested that the region was more racially diverse in the 19th century than is generally believed today. He shared the view that all-white casts typical of British period dramas had reinforced this belief. Oldroyd and casting director Shaheen Baig took a colour-blind approach. In her second feature film and first lead role, Florence Pugh plays Katherine Lester. Naomi Ackie and Cosmo Jarvis make their feature debuts as Anna and Sebastian. Older and more established actors Paul Hilton and Christopher Fairbank play Alexander and Boris Lester. The landed gentry roles of the Lesters are played by white actors. But the successors to the male Lesters, murdered by Katherine, are played by actors of colour, who led the supporting cast: the established Golda Rosheuvel as Agnes and Anton Palmer, in his feature debut,as Teddy. The diversity continues in actors playing the principal servant roles: Ackie and Jarvis.
The Lady Macbeth crew included director of photography Ari Wegner, production designer Jacqueline Abrahams, costume designer Holly Waddington and editor Nick Emerson. The principal location was Lambton Castle, County Durham as the Lester estate. The film is largely set in the Lesters's house where the principal interiors are Katherine and Alexander's bedroom, the drawing room with a breakfast table and sofa, and the wood panelled dining room. To reflect the austere nature of house owner Boris Lester, the interiors were sparsely furnished with walls painted in cold period colours. According to Oldroyd, the production design was influenced by pared-back interiors and solitary people lit by cool daylight in the paintings of Danish artist Vilhelm Hammershøi (18641916). Lambton Castle has similar daylight; both County Durham and Southern Denmark are close to the 55th parallel north.
Filming In SeptemberOctober 2015, the Lady Macbeth screenplay was filmed chronologically in 24 days: one day at a moorland location and the rest at the principal location Lambton Castle. At the castle, director William Oldroyd and director of photography Ari Wegner worked alongside editor Nick Emerson. Wegner relied on natural light for indoor scenes by day. She mostly used the in-one method to record scenes with wide master shots, which minimised the need for further coverage.
Florence Pugh as Katherine Lester is on-screen for most of the film. She alternates between feeling constrained by other characters, particularly the Lester men, and feeling more relaxed, when she is walking around the estate or with her lover. Oldroyd and Wegner reflected Katherine's state of mind with camerawork. When constrained, the camera was locked to give a static frame around Katherine, while when relaxed, the camera was handheld and the frame moved with her.