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The Beguiled (2017)
When movie’s form and substance are not in harmony the strain can be obvious. With a stellar cast, superb cinematography and magnificent American Gothic period setting, The Beguiled (2017) has uncompromisingly beautiful form. In terms of substance, on the other hand, its characterisation and narrative interpretation fail to impress.
The storyline is uncomplicated. A wounded Union mercenary Corporal John McBurney (Colin Farrell) is found in the woods by a young pupil of a nearby prestigious girls school. She helps him limp to the school where the headmistress Miss Martha Farnsworth (Nicole Kidman) agrees out of Christian kindness to provide shelter from the Confederates. The slave servants have fled and the Civil War rages, but the school stays open for a handful of orphaned girls. McBurney knows that his charm and seduction skills are vital to his survival as he smirks privately at having landed in a crinoline paradise compared to the battle outside. The ladies are aflutter at his presence and an atmosphere of repressed sexuality and jealousy simmer below the surface. But he is too clever for his own Irish charm as he tries to worm his way into too many beds. When caught out for his duplicity, the sweet angels of charity exact their revenge.
With a story rich in narrative potential and star-power like Kidman, Farrell and Fanning, you might expect a delicious thriller melodrama with characters of depth, complexity and nuance. But instead we find a flat narrative with two-dimensional caricatures devoid of emotional expression. Apart from McBurney’s angry outburst at having been thwarted by a mere handful of women, nobody in this film seems to feel anything more urgent than how the plates might be arranged for dinner. Piques of jealousy, fear, passion, feminist rage? – none seem to have made the final cut. Perhaps it’s a Gothic affectation that upper-class Southern ladies enjoy French grammar and music lessons accompanied by exploding cannonballs. Whenever there is hope for an exciting narrative twist, the ladies spontaneously assemble for a posed composition of exquisite elegance and formality as if beckoned by a painter for a portrait sitting. Seeing this the first time is a visual delight; seeing it multiple times displays a level of artifice that distracts from an already slow narrative. Gothic atmosphere is usually full of tension but here it’s more about smoky mists and mood lighting that varies between dark, darker and darkest. What could have been offered as a triumphantly gruesome finale is instead played out as deadpan politeness in a sewing lesson for once rich young white ladies.
Opinions differ widely about this film. Some will have seen the 1971 version or read the source novel, others of course will see it cold. Perhaps it is meant to be a deliberately restrained feminist Gothic noir interpretation. However, despite its high-quality inputs this film is more about form than substance. It has not risen to its potential.
Director: Sophia Coppola
Stars: Nicole Kidman, Colin Farrell, Kirsten Dunst, Elle Fanning
A USA production
CineMuseFilms 
Very interesting write-up, I’d expect MORE darkness as well. Haven’t seen it yet but another on the list of never-ending things to see, it’s a good time for film though (I believe) but a pity they didn’t quite push it here?
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Its worth seeing Dan, but with modest expectations. I like the phrase they “didnt quite push it here”.
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I felt it from your description, I also had something similar with Alien: Covenant as well. I enjoyed it but felt there was a missed opportunity to delve a little deeper.
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Your review is spot on. It set up the drama very well and the setting, costumes and photography were exquisite but the drama at the end was non-existent. Coppola fails to damn the war or patriarchal society; and also fails to develop fully Farrell’s character as Faustian sexual threat. Very disappointing I thought.
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You have nailed it Paul. Good to hear from you.
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Sounds like a sad waste of talent. I always wonder, when great talent comes together in front of the camera of a poorly directed film, how the actors tough it out. Perhaps as it is done it snippets here and there, they aren’t aware of how much is missing.
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Its possible that all involved in the project became immersed in the decision to re-make this tale as a deliberately restrained feminist Gothic noir interpretation. I think it was not a good call.
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Yes. Perhaps they were somehow trying to capture the slow and ever measured reactions of the Deep South.
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Thank you. I agree!
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Still haven’t seen this, but I had the same exact feeling with the two other Sofia Coppola movies I have seen.. non existent ending, atmosphere and tension. I still liked them. I think knowing that going in will help
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Good point; forewarned is forearmed.
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I haven’t watched this one yet, but I think your review is fair. In The Virgin Suicides Coppola set the setting right, the atmosphere, but there she had a really nice source material – a great book. In that film, her “underwhelming” approach paid off because nothing speaks louder than one’s suicide. I do not know why Coppola now tries to be so low key here in the Beguiled – something more imaginative may be needed here.
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I haven’t seen the movie but maybe it was by design. They cope with the outside world (at war) by holding fast to ritual and southern etiquette.
They must all conform. Once the discipline breaks down, their carefully managed reality breaks apart. Sometimes I wonder if that is what monastic retreats are all about. Christ said, be in the world but not of the world. Some religious orders have sought to be neither in the world, nor of it.
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