The grand jury at the Cannes International Film Festival saw something truly special in The Beguiled as it gave its helmer, Sofia Coppola, its prize as Best Director. One can see why as Coppola’s (who also wrote the script) tale is beautifully shot, superbly acted and impeccably captures a moment in time.
The film is a remake of the 1971 film of the same name that starred Clint Eastwood as the Union soldier taking refuge in a confederate girls’ boarding school. Both are based on the Thomas Cullinan 1966 novel.
Coppola’s film explores what happens when Colin Farrell’s John McBurney is found injured in the woods of Virginia and taken in by the women of the sparsely attended school, at least until he is mended.
While there, tensions rise as the students of the school (including Elle Fanning’s Alicia), the leader Martha Farnsworth (Nicole Kidman) and instructor Edwina Dabney (Kirsten Dunst, recently seen in Hidden Figures as another Virginian) come to terms with the dramatic shift in dynamics in their removed from the horrors of war enclave. Sexual and amorous electricity rises between McBurney and Farnsworth, Dabney and Alicia and it results in the ladies starting to turn on each other, at least until McBurney shows his true colors and turns on them.
The Beguiled raises some fascinating questions in terms of what it means to be a good “Christian,” especially in times of war and how and when to draw the line when helping drifts into territory that becomes dangerous to all those who began with the most earnest of intentions. What is so refreshing is that Coppola feels no need to have all of these inquiries answered. It is something viewers can let percolate after the credits have rolled and often times that’s even better than having conclusions drawn for you by the filmmaker.
Performances across the board are perfection, Farrell particularly. He must embody a character who is straddling a line between mystery, endearment to his caretakers and simple selfish survival needs. The same can be said for the requirement of Kidman. Her charges and their well-being are of the utmost importance. She not only sees McBurney’s arrival in their world as a chance to illustrate being a good Christian by example, but also an opportunity to further their overall education when it comes to the ever-changing and dangerous world that is evolving beyond the school’s iron fence.
Martha also has her own needs. She is a widow, and the presence of a man around her property is certainly welcomed, even if it is coming with a price of pierced peace in her school and home.
Dunst continues her revival (if you can call it that). She is given a character that is complicated on many levels. Who she is, who she seeks to be and what she wants out of life all has to be emitted in the most subtle and often times silent of ways. She nails it in every sense.
The credit for this terrific thespian troupe’s collective turns, beyond the performers themselves, lies firmly with Coppola. Not only is she clearly an “actor’s director,” but she has given her ensemble a terrific script to sink their talented teeth into. Sure, the source material — Cullinan’s novel — helps. But in terms of bringing a story to the screen in a manner that fits the medium, salutation must begin and end with the helmer. She lays out her dramatic ebb and flow with such command. The promise she showed with The Virgin Suicides has grown exponentially to the point where she now has to be considered one of the true voices of her cinematic generation.
If there are any faults with The Beguiled, it could be argued that at 93 minutes, Coppola had time to play with and add elements of to further beef up the tension. The film has been described as a Southern thriller, but there was little to indicate that it belongs in that category. Sure, there are some tense moments, but to call it a thriller is not quite accurate. If there was more added to the story, such as a build-up that elicited jaw-dropping moments throughout, we’d say it rang true closer to a thriller than a tense drama.
Lastly, if there was an award for Best Title ever bestowed on a film, this particular version of Cullinan’s vision would surely score a nomination. It truly captures it flawlessly in every nuanced sense of the world “beguiled.”
Grade: B+