New York (AFP)

Without his brother Ethan but with Denzel Washington and still Frances McDormand, the American director Joel Coen takes up the challenge of adapting Macbeth, in a clean black and white film, while light and shadow, while remaining very faithful to Shakespeare's text.

Orson Welles, Akira Kurosawa, Roman Polanski, Justin Kurzel ... the legendary piece has no shortage of versions for the screen.

"It is perhaps the play of Shakespeare which lends itself best to the cinema. It is due to the structure, the rhythm, the action and the themes", explains to AFP Dennis Lim, director of the programming for the 59th New York Film Festival, where "The Tragedy of Macbeth" was presented to the public on Friday night, as a world premiere.

But where some have gone into grandiosity to tell this story of power and ambition, Joel Coen "did not try to find a medieval castle, misty landscapes, lots of horses and all that. It is a backdrop. very minimal. And it works very well, ”adds Dennis Lim.

Crowned with numerous awards, including Oscars for "Fargo" and "No country for old men", the Coen brothers have embraced many genres, adventure films, comedies or thrillers, black humor often in the banner.

For this rare film alone, Joel Coen has chosen a work full of gravity, which he films halfway between theater and cinema, with a lot of darkness.

- "VHS tapes" -

In black and white, the play of light and shadow is omnipresent, especially on the face of Macbeth, royally interpreted by Denzel Washington.

Throughout the film, daylight passes through columns, alcoves or loopholes, creating symmetrical chiaroscuro effects.

When asked which version of Macbeth had inspired her the most, Joel Coen quoted a master of cinema from the 1920s and 1930s, the Dane Carl Dreyer - who did not adapt Shakespeare's play -, and he also referred to "German expressionism", whose major figures were Fritz Lang and Murnau.

The dialogues are, them, very faithful to the text, served by Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand, already Oscar winner three times, in Lady Macbeth.

On the sidelines of the film's presentation to the press on Friday, the actress and wife of Joel Coen said: "The first thing that made me want to be an actress for the rest of my life is the sleepwalking in the tragedy "of Macbeth.

"And I played it when I was 14 (...) I've been repeating it for 50 years", she joked, also saying that for years she pushed her husband to embark on Macbeth.

American director Joel Coen at the world premiere for his film, "The Tragedy of Macbeth" on September 24, 2021 at the New York Film Festival Arturo Holmes Getty / AFP

Also presented at the London Film Festival in October, the film will be released on December 25 in theaters but for a limited time, before being broadcast in January 2022 on the Apple TV streaming platform.

Asked about this strategy, denounced by some as killing the big screen, Joel Coen, figure of independent cinema, recalled his beginnings in the profession.

"When I started making cinema - it's been almost 40 years - the reason I was able to make films with Ethan (...) is because the studios had a market at that time. annex which served as a safety net for riskier films, namely VHS tapes (...) mainly television, "he explained.

"It's really been part of the history of our films from the start."

© 2021 AFP