Lady Macbeth: Bold, brutal and bloody - a deadly subversion of the Victorian period drama

Bold, brutal and bloody, Lady Macbeth is a deadly subversion of the Victorian period drama.

This fierce feature film debut from London director William Oldroyd couldn’t be further from the Scottish play of its namesake and takes your preconceptions of 19th Century England to breaking point.

Guildford-raised Oldroyd calls it: “Wuthering Heights meets Kill Bill,” and he’s not wrong.

Despite having all the trappings of a classic Victorian drama - the costumes, the big house, the servants - this is a period film like no other.

Based on a Russian novella and set in rural Northumberland in 1865, a young woman is stifled by her loveless marriage to a bitter man twice her age, until a passionate affair with a young workman opens up new and dangerous possibilities.

Stripped back and sparse, Oldroyd removes much of the fuss and prettiness typical of films of that era and leaves us with empty spaces, heavy silences and barren landscapes.

“This isn’t your typical period drama no,” Oldroyd explains, “It’s definitely a radical film that just happens to be set in the past. The film may be based in the 19th century, but it will resonate with a modern audience.”

The former theatre director, who has worked at the Young Vic Theatre in Waterloo, says making the leap from stage to screen was challenging:

At the heart of this amoral love story is Katherine, played by Florence Pugh - who is mesmerising in her unflinching portrayal of a young woman’s emancipation from patriarchal constraints.

“This is a very modern story in a very period film. It’s not often you get to see women on screen kickback in this way - particularly in this era,” says Pugh.

And she’s in quite a situation. Seemingly without family or friends, Katherine is bought as a trophy wife, imprisoned in the airless rooms of the house and caged into lung-crushing corsets. But it’s not in her nature to be suppressed and she pushes back with a steadily rising ruthlessness.

The diversity of the cast sets this film apart from other period dramas. Almost half of the leading roles are held by black or mixed-race actors, something you very rarely see in films documenting 19th Century England.

Oldroyd says this was less about race in film, and more about being historically accurate: “We did a lot of research about the period and looked at a lot of photos and from what we found - this kind of diversity was the norm,” he explains.

At just 89-minutes, Oldroyd delivers a master-class in making the unwatchable eminently watchable.

And the irresistibly malevolent Katherine pins it all together. Love her, loathe her or fear her - you will not forget Pugh’s powerful leading lady in a hurry.

Lady Macbeth is out in cinemas Friday 28 April.