Directed by:
Sofia CoppolaCinematography:
Philippe Le SourdCast:
Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, Elle Fanning, Oona Laurence, Angourie Rice, Addison Riecke, Emma Howard, Wayne PéreVOD (2)
Plots(1)
Sofia Coppola's adaptation of this Southern Gothic tale of sexual rivalries stars Colin Farrell as a wounded Union soldier who triggers dangerous desires when he's taken in by the headmistress of an all-girls boarding school. (Home Box Office)
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Reviews (12)
An hour-long wait for a peak that definitely isn't worth an hour-long wait. Lots of stolen glances, genuine curiosity, and suppressed emotions do all the heavy lifting for plot development that struck me as belonging in a different, significantly less successful film. The answers to the questions that interested me the most remained hidden behind silent female characters. Sofia Coppola is definitely losing her uniqueness.
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The original film from 1971 is no miracle, but it is still done much better overall. The original is significantly richer in plot in terms of character portrayal, and it contains much more tension, conflicts between characters and more daring sexual tension. The conclusion also had a better- elaborated point. In the new version, the director mainly failed to make the film more from the point of view of his female characters, which was probably the intention, and then transfer to the present its atmosphere of a spinster’s prudish girl's dormitory, in which a forbidden temptation suddenly appeared in the form of a handsome man, which is why viewers seem to mistakenly confuse the film with a black comedy and react to it with laughter. Compared to the original film version, the story is shallow and sparse, the motivations of the characters are not clear enough, and even the stellar cast is average at best.
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The Beguiled is a gentler, more sensual and more sophisticated take on Thomas Cullin’s novel than the film made by Don Siegel and Clint Eastwood in 1971. In the original film, the ruin of men was represented by jealous and vengeful women who were incapable of suppressing their lust. Therefore, I understand Sofia Coppola’s decision to rework the same subject matter so that the result would not be a film expressing male paranoia about female hysteria and in which Southern belles are defined solely by their sexuality (or lack thereof). Coppola dispensed with the broader historical context and replaced it with a timeless narrative about the battle of the sexes and girls coming of age. Similarly as in The Virgin Suicides and Marie Antoinette, she confines her female protagonists to a golden cage, which provides them with certain privileges but also prevents them from freely expressing their individual interests. This confinement is manifested also in The Beguiled in the disregard for the outside world, corresponding to the point of view of privileged white girls who are only interested in their own needs. Despite its seeming one-dimensionality and superficiality, The Beguiled is a layered, subversive and humorous film with an ambiguous message. 85%
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The blue-coated fox in the Southern hen house. The residents are in an uproar and have established a waiting list for him, and it’s only a matter of time before the old lady is fed up. Outside, a lazy mist naturally flows around the Spanish moss, while inside, naturally lit diminishing restraint and everywhere, natural beings writhing with desire. Up to this point, Coppola still manages to hold the triumphs of atmosphere, but from the moment the polite soldier and model for an ice-cream ad turns into an aggressive maniac with a flick of a magical saw, it becomes something that even Colin Farrell can't salvage
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I love the acting of both the excellent Nicole Kidman and Colin Farrell, but even the young puppy Elle Fanning has something going for her. I was expecting a more steamy psychological and erotic experience which the last half hour politely encouraged, just a shame they ended it so quickly. It was watchable, but could have been better. 60%
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