Madeline
The Beguiled has the finger prints of Sofia Coppola all over it. There is a group of women who are dealing with a difficult situation. There is imagery that is reminiscent of an Instagram filter. And the story does not require many actors, big effects, or flash of any kind.
Premise of The Beguiled
The movie begins three years into the civil war. A girl is wondering through a forest gathering mushrooms. There is gunfire heard in the distance when the girl comes across a wounded Yankee soldier. Although they are in the south and they are on the side of the Confederacy, she decides she cannot leave him there and takes him home to where she lives in a boarding school for girls with five other girls, a teacher and the head mistress.
Although they are concerned about bring a soldier of the enemy into their house, they decide to do the Christian thing and nurse him back to health. The women struggle with saving a person’s life and giving this enemy soldier over for the Confederate soldiers to decide what to do with him. And in the end, it leads to a worse case scenario for everyone involved.
The Finger Prints of Sofia Coppola
When I think of Sofia Coppola, I think of a very specific esthetic. I think of an Instagram type filtered esthetic with plenty of feminine energy. She tends to have strong female characters who take charge of a situation and in The Beguiled there are two strong female characters. There is generally a conflict that does not require much other than actors, a grand setting, and costumes and this film hits all three of these finger prints on the head. Her films are of the chick flick varietal that does not come to mind when hearing that genre. Feminist films are a better description of her finger print.
The strong female characters are Edwina, played by Kristin Dunst, and Martha, played by Nicole Kidman. There is a dislike between these two strong female characters but due to the circumstances, they know their place and will work together for the common good of the group. Although the other female characters play a part in Sofia Coppola’s finger prints, the real conflict is between these two.
Final Thoughts
I completely understand why this is one of Sofia Coppola’s lower rated films. The visualizations of this film were dark, the characters lacked a level of dimension, and the storyline was not as compelling as some of her other films. I have not decided if I am a Sofia Coppola fan or not, but this film does nothing to sway me in her favor.
