The Promise (12A)

four stars

Dir: Terry George

With: Oscar Isaac, Christian Bale

Runtime: 133mins

A LOVE triangle set against the backdrop of the Armenian genocide during the First World Way may seem like an ill-advised marriage. But Terry George’s film, while certainly contrived at times, remains an important and emotionally compelling piece of work, shining a deserved light on an atrocity that its perpetrator, Turkey, continues to deny today. Oscar Isaac, Christian Bale and Charlotte Le Bon are the trio at the heart of the drama, whose tug-of-love becomes eclipsed by the mass murder of 1.5 million Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire. As committed as their performances are, however, it’s the frequently shocking historical insights that lend the film its staying power and which George delivers just as effectively as he did with past work such as Hotel Rwanda.

Lady Macbeth (15)

four stars

Dir: William Oldroyd

With: Florence Pugh, Cosmo Jarvis

Runtime: 89mins

FORGET Shakespeare, William Oldroyd’s savagely dark film is actually inspired by Nikolai Leskov’s 1865 Russian novella Lady Macbeth Of The Mtsensk District and is a fiercely compelling tale of lust and murder in Victorian Northumberland. Florence Pugh excels as the 17-year-old Katherine, whose refuses to be trapped by her the loveless circumstance of her arranged marriage. Rather, she embarks upon a torrid affair with a stable groom (Cosmo Jarvis) that takes a murderous turn once it threatens to be discovered. Pugh mesmerises in the lead role, while Oldroyd’s direction is high on sombre atmospherics that really do haunt.