Post by PG Cooper on Jul 10, 2017 15:15:44 GMT -5
I’m not as well versed in Sofia Coppola’s filmography as I like to be, but even from afar I can admire how hard she is to pin down as a filmmaker. The common theme of characters who feel detached and alone can be found throughout her work, but the types of movies she makes are often quite different. Still, I would never have expected her follow-up to The Bling Ring would be a Southern Gothic story of revenge and violence that had already been adapted by Don Siegel and Clint Eastwood in 1971. And yet, here we have The Beguiled, and it’s a very good film. The premise is inherently engaging; a union army soldier (Colin Farrell) is wounded and dying in Virginia when he is saved by a young girl and taken to the girls school she attends. As his wounds heal over the soldier’s stay, sexual tensions build between he and the few remaining women and girls, eventually threatening to implode. The Beguiled is indeed all about the slow build. Coppola dedicates a lot of time to slowly establishing the characters and detailing the mundane routine at this school which Farrell is disrupting. Several scenes also show where the various character relationships are going and each compounding detail adds another layer of drama.
Great as the build-up is though, I do think the actual impact when shit hits the fan in the third act is a little lacking. There’s nothing bad in this section per-say, but the stakes don’t quite escalate to their peak level and the remainder of the film plays out somewhat predictably. I would be remiss however to not mention the third act does feature a scene of unrestrained passion which is a definite highlight and there are some moral complications to the third act which are worth pondering. I won’t go into spoilers, but the soldier’s accusations that much of the women are acting out of self-interest and jealousy rather than pure altruism do have some validity. This isn’t to excuse his actions, which are selfish and cruel, but Coppola does not present a simple dynamic of good and evil.
Speaking of Coppola, the woman continues to show her great talent as a filmmaker. Purely on a visual level, The Beguiled is gorgeous. The film is bathed in beautiful natural light and Coppola makes the most of her Virginian location. The girl’s school is also a strong location and the period clothing feels pretty authentic. The performances however, are the real highlight. Nicole Kidman is great as the strict but fiercely intelligent school headmistress and Coppola seems completely in-tune with her performance. Even Kidman’s early scenes with Farrell have an undercurrent of a power struggle and the glimmers of her unhinged persona are very rewarding. Kirsten Dunst has the opposite challenge as the only remaining teacher Edwina, playing a character who buries much of her feelings beneath a veneer of cold acceptance, though clearly raging with emotion beneath the surface. Dunst wonderfully conveys a sense of sadness and she works as an excellent foil to Kidman. Colin Farrell also walks a fine line between charming, vulnerable, and threatening quite well while Elle Fanning works well as a teen girl facing a burgeoning sexuality. The rest of the cast nicely fill out the girl’s school and generally embody their roles nicely.
Despite some great elements, I can’t say The Beguiled ever truly reaches greatness. The film has a great look, a handful of great performances, and it builds nicely, but the payoff doesn’t really deliver to its full potential, and that’s a fairly substantial problem for a film structured entirely on building tension. Had the third act offered a few more twists and upped the stakes just a little more it might have been something really special. Even so, The Beguiled is still a very good movie and if this review seems harsh it’s only because I want to love it rather than just like it.
B+
Great as the build-up is though, I do think the actual impact when shit hits the fan in the third act is a little lacking. There’s nothing bad in this section per-say, but the stakes don’t quite escalate to their peak level and the remainder of the film plays out somewhat predictably. I would be remiss however to not mention the third act does feature a scene of unrestrained passion which is a definite highlight and there are some moral complications to the third act which are worth pondering. I won’t go into spoilers, but the soldier’s accusations that much of the women are acting out of self-interest and jealousy rather than pure altruism do have some validity. This isn’t to excuse his actions, which are selfish and cruel, but Coppola does not present a simple dynamic of good and evil.
Speaking of Coppola, the woman continues to show her great talent as a filmmaker. Purely on a visual level, The Beguiled is gorgeous. The film is bathed in beautiful natural light and Coppola makes the most of her Virginian location. The girl’s school is also a strong location and the period clothing feels pretty authentic. The performances however, are the real highlight. Nicole Kidman is great as the strict but fiercely intelligent school headmistress and Coppola seems completely in-tune with her performance. Even Kidman’s early scenes with Farrell have an undercurrent of a power struggle and the glimmers of her unhinged persona are very rewarding. Kirsten Dunst has the opposite challenge as the only remaining teacher Edwina, playing a character who buries much of her feelings beneath a veneer of cold acceptance, though clearly raging with emotion beneath the surface. Dunst wonderfully conveys a sense of sadness and she works as an excellent foil to Kidman. Colin Farrell also walks a fine line between charming, vulnerable, and threatening quite well while Elle Fanning works well as a teen girl facing a burgeoning sexuality. The rest of the cast nicely fill out the girl’s school and generally embody their roles nicely.
Despite some great elements, I can’t say The Beguiled ever truly reaches greatness. The film has a great look, a handful of great performances, and it builds nicely, but the payoff doesn’t really deliver to its full potential, and that’s a fairly substantial problem for a film structured entirely on building tension. Had the third act offered a few more twists and upped the stakes just a little more it might have been something really special. Even so, The Beguiled is still a very good movie and if this review seems harsh it’s only because I want to love it rather than just like it.
B+
