The Beguiled is probably the
closest thing to “classy” that you can get with such a pulpy premise. A remake
of a forgotten 1971 Clint Eastwood vehicle (which in turn was based on a novel
by Thomas Cullinan), the plot of a bunch of cooped up southern belles who all
get the hots for a rugged soldier seems more like the setup for a porno than
anything else, but put in the hands of a director like Sofia Coppola, and she
adds more intrigue to it and flips the inherent sexism in such a premise by
fleshing out the women’s desires. The result is a game of manipulation with one
player vs a revolving team.
Our story takes place at a
girl’s boarding school in Civil War era Virginia, occupied by a small group of
girls who are spending the summer there to avoid the war outside, led by their
strict headmistress Miss Martha (Nicole Kidman) and the more submissive
schoolteacher Edwina (Kirsten Dunst). One of the girls finds a wounded Union
soldier named Corporal John McBurney (Colin Farrell) in the woods outside the
school and brings him back to be treated. The headmistress is reluctant at
first but begrudgingly relents and takes him in. The girls are all fascinated
by their new house guest, addressing him with varying degrees of attraction and
suspicion. Emotions begin running raw when everyone begins vying for John’s attention
and he starts toying with their emotions. Were the women right to give this man
sanctuary, or have they let a wolf into the henhouse?
In essence, The Beguiled is a great companion piece
to Coppola’s first film, The Virgin
Suicides: both focus on the group dynamics of women in a secluded estate
that’s disrupted by the presence of a man/men, but whereas the girls in The Virgin Suicides are being locked up
against their will, the women of The
Beguiled have holed themselves up intentionally to avoid danger of the war
outside. The distant thunder of cannon fire and the occasional visit from a
Confederate soldier is all the indication of the conflict beyond the gates. The
gilded cage is of their manor is one of their own creation, with Miss Martha
differentiating herself and the girls from the men fighting by maintaining
order, keeping everything prim, proper and ladylike. The only reason she even
let McBurney in was because one of her students argued that it would be the
Christian thing to do.
The script is sparse in
incident and laced with subtlety, giving the cast more room to lay out their
vulnerabilities and desires. Colin Farrell is no Clint Eastwood, but he plays
the bedridden corporal with an unassuming charm in the recovery stage, but
immediately changes his tune from charming to intimidating when his wounds get
progressively worse. He represents something different for each character. For
Miss Martha, he’s a disruptor of balance and order. For Edwina, he’s a promise
of escape. For the oldest and most hormonally driven student Alicia (Elle
Fanning), he represents something more carnal. McBurney recognizes each of
their weaknesses and plays them to his advantage. Quiet dinner scenes are laced
with innuendo and suggestion. Late night visits to his chambers start with
tenderness and temptation end with someone getting hurt. And when things
escalate, boy do they escalate.
Unfortunately, the movie does
begin to stumble on its way to the finish line. It would be nearly impossible
to explain what went wrong without spoiling the entire second half, but it felt
like everything was resolved a bit too conveniently. There has been all this
build-up and psychological maneuvering that would have you believe it would all
end in some big blowout, but while I get that’s not Copolla’s style, to not
deliver and instead have everything wrap up as neatly as it did just feels
wrong. It also doesn’t help that there was one unresolved plot thread that
would leave our characters to deal with the aftermath, but the movie ends
before it can even be brought up. You can tell that there were some crucial
pieces from the source material that were emitted, and if nothing else, this
movie does actually make me want to check out the book to see what those
missing pieces were.
Overall, The Beguiled is a
stylish and thrilling period piece that doesn’t quite live up to its promises.
There’s plenty to be enjoyed: the acting is solid all around, Copolla’s
directing is fantastic, the costumes and use of natural light are on point, and
up until the end, I wasn’t sure exactly where the plot was going. The script may
be skeletal, but that would imply all the bones were there. It’s a nice place
to visit, but as the women there can attest, living there is something
different.
7/10
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