Lady MacBeth

The Lady MacBeth we know from Shakespeare’s Scottish play ends tragically—she plots murder, manipulates, then she’s dead. But what if she owned her power and used it? In director William Oldroyd’s Lady MacBeth (not based in the play, the name’s more of a reference) we see a young 19th century bride sold into marriage to a wealthy land owner twice her age. She’s completely powerless, a victim of circumstance. But when she meets a man while wandering her husband’s estate, events take a turn. They start a passionate affair and soon revenge and murder ensue. The story is riveting—sexy, suspenseful, a period piece that feels completely contemporary.

Florence Pugh is mesmerizing as the lead character. Her acting resume is short, but shows her to be a major talent. She was a standout as a teen sex worker in the BBC series Marcella (2014) and co-starred with Maisie Williams in The Falling (2014), as the charismatic center of an outbreak of hysterical fainting at an all-girls school. In Lady MacBeth, she‘s perfectly cast as an innocent whose character is slowly corrupted until she’s unrecognizable by the film’s end.

Lady MacBeth opens in theaters on July 19. You can watch the trailer, above.