Siberian Lady Macbeth

Siberian Lady Macbeth
Siberian Lady Macbeth
	DVD cover
Directed by	Andrzej Wajda
Written by	Nikolai Leskov
Starring	Ljuba Tadić; Olivera Markovic
Cinematography	Aleksandar Sekulović
Music by	Dušan Radić
Release date	1962;
Running time	93 minutes
Countries	Poland; Yugoslavia
Languages	Polish; Serbian

Siberian Lady Macbeth (Orig. Sibirska Ledi Magbet), also translated as Fury Is a Woman, is a 1962 film directed by Andrzej Wajda, based on the novella Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District by Nikolai Leskov.

Cast[edit source]

Olivera Marković - Katerina Izmajlowa / Lady Macbeth
Ljuba Tadić - Sergei
Kapitalina Erić - cook
Bojan Stupica - Izmajlow
Miodrag Lazarević - Zinovij Izmailow
Branka Petrić - aunt

External links[edit source]

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Siberian Lady Macbeth
Original title: Sibirska ledi Magbet
1962
Not Rated
1h 33min
IMDb RATING
6.8/10
341
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Drama Mystery Romance

In what might be termed Russo-Shakespearean noir, a ruthless woman's adulterous affair with a drifter sets in motion a chain-reaction of murder and deception in a remote village in 19th Century Mtsensk.

Director

Andrzej Wajda
Writers

Nikolai Leskov(story)
Sveta Lukic
Stars

Olivera Markovic
Ljuba Tadic
Kapitalina Eric
See production, box office & company info

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1User review
2Critic reviews

Awards

1 nomination

Photos8

Storyline
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In what might be termed Russo-Shakespearean noir, a ruthless woman's adulterous affair with a drifter sets in motion a chain-reaction of murder and deception in a remote village in 19th Century Mtsensk.

Trivia
Based on Nikolai Leskov's novel Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (Ledi Makbet Mtsenskovo uyezda). Shostakovitch also adapted the same work as an opera. This film is influenced more by the book.

Connections
Remade as Lady Macbeth (2016)

User reviews1
Review

TOP REVIEW7/10
Cold and Distant
This movie suffers by comparison with Petr Weigl's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (1992), which has Shostakovich's music and singing, by means of lip-synching. That one was very dynamic; here the acting is remarkably wooden, though it gets better towards the end.

It seems that this version is based on the original story by Leskov, rather than the Shostakovich opera. Shostakovich made Katarina more sympathetic by showing her as a normal, vibrant woman driven to distraction by the cruel people surrounding her, and by the oppressive imperial system. Here she is a lustful creature who will stop at nothing to get what she wants; this turns the story into a simple morality tale without the complex interplay of the opera.

The Leskov-Wajda version establishes this with details not in the Shostakovich-Weigl: Katarina and Sergei murder a child who stands to inherit the estate; Katarina, as she's sent off to Siberia, is completely indifferent to her own child. In the Shostakovich-Weigl, Sergei's new girlfriend sings a very cruel song of triumph over Katarina.

The black-and-white photography is not suited to a story like this, although the composition of images is very artistic, probably better than in the Weigl version. But it's still very slow; for instance, the flogging looks like something that might be administered by a school principal on sedatives. On the other hand, the final death scene is nicely done, it's one of the best parts of the movie.

2021/09/04