Lady Macbeth

Fresh, cunning and completely unflinching, this isn't Shakespeare's Lady Macbeth but debut director William Oldroyd's stark depiction of a young woman taking control in rural northern England at the turn of the last century. Based on a Russian novella, Lady Macbeth gives Florence Pugh her first leading role as Katherine, a woman trapped in an abusive arranged marriage. We will her to escape, and - spoiler alert! - she does, but via some unthinkable acts. The spartan setting adds to the sense of desperation, making us understand her decisions such as taking a handsome but hapless groom (Cosmo Jarvis) as her lover. Flaunting convention cannot go unpunished, however, pushing Katherine further and further to maintain any kind of freedom. Lady Macbeth is daring cinema that will chill you to the bone and leave you rooting for its understandably immoral heroine.