Review of The Beguiled (2017) by Dirigiblepulp — 07 Jul 2017

This is exactly what you would expect the Sofia Coppola version of this film to be. On the one hand, it could have been an interesting take on the original. That version was a bit campy and overheated, its emotions and intentions written all over each scene. What if those were scaled back and we were left with simmering emotions and gentle backstabbing and mysterious intentions? A story that captures the politeness of the south and the demureness of the times but with this unmistakable sexual tension underlying everything. It could work.

But it doesn't, not really. Characters feel half-realized, somehow holding back their emotions results in ciphers whose actions seem to take on even more of a plot-forward agency than before. Specific actions happen seemingly at random, rather than being the result of a perfectly cooked setup that boils over. It's all a bit too laconic and Coppola doesn't find a way (like she has in her other films) to make the undercurrents the main current, the repressions the inevitable explosions. It just feels empty. A fashion show with low-light natural lighting and an occasional misplaced feeling of dread.