A tense, seductive, and wickedly fun southern gothic romp, The Beguiled features writer/director Sofia Coppola at her most direct and potent, conjuring excellent performances from a talented cast while providing a bewitching ambience.
The last time The Beguiled, a novel written by a Thomas P. Cullinan, was adapted to the big screen was at the hands of famed director Don Spiegel (Dirty Harry) and starred his long time leading man Clint Eastwood. Although not a commercial hit (which led to decades long rift between Eastwood and Universal Studios), The Beguiled became a cult classic, the kind of film that grabs a hold of you during a late-night channel surfing spree and doesn’t let go.
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This 2017 adaptation/remake written and directed by Sofia Coppola has the same magnetic pull, yet is sure to be a hit and with good reason. Clocking in at 93 minutes, The Beguiled is without a doubt the most accessible and potent work in Coppola’s filmography filled with slow burning dramas. Although a period piece set during the American Civil War, the wicked wit in its gender politics and excellent performances from its cast results in a smart, relevant, and simmering tale of attraction and survival, not to mention pitch black comedy to blends well with its southern gothic tone.
Set at an all-girls boarding school in Virginia, The Beguiled begins when a young student finds union solider John McBurney (Colin Farrell) wounded and in need of dire assistance. Under the stern instruction of headmistress Martha Farnsworth (Nicole Kidman), the bloodied and grizzled solider by way of Dublin is taken in and tended to as is their “Christian duty”. It doesn’t take long for the presence of the charming McBurney to change the dynamic of the stuffy boarding school, with proper lady like behaviour quickly giving way to rivalry and jealousy, especially between reserved Edwina (Kirsten Dunst), rebellious Alicia (Elle Fanning), and Miss Farnsworth herself.
To say anymore would give away the many treats that The Beguiled has in droves, as Coppola flips the switch from playful to sinister with pitch perfect ease, keeping her audience on their toes as flirtatious desires create a dangerous web within which many a broken heart is snared.
Where the original source material and first movie takes the soldiers perspective, Coppola ingeniously approaches the material from the women’s perspective. It immediately creates a much more interesting movie that asks many moral questions about this curious situation, where desire, manipulation, and perhaps even love all jockey for position.
Performance wise a talented cast are all excellent, with special mention to Colin Farrell’s charming wounded soldier, and especially Nicole Kidman who brilliantly portrays the stern disciplinarian with traces of desperate longing. Kidman’s attempts at wooing the wounded McBurney with French spoken compliments is especially a hoot, as is her delivery of perhaps one of the best one liners delivered so far this year.
It all results in an entertaining, pulsating and above all impressive work that features Coppola at the top of her game. |