Now available to rent on Amazon, Apple, Google Play $4.99
Director: Sofia Coppola
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Colin Farrell, Kirsten Dunst, Elle Fanning
Virginia. Three years into the civil war. A girl wanders the forest, looking for mushrooms, and comes across a wounded Union colonel, John McBurney (Colin Farrell), and takes him back to her school, the Seminary for Young Ladies. The school, run by the steely and pragmatic head-mistress Miss Martha (Nicole Kidman), only has a few students left and one teacher, Edwina (Kirsten Dunst), around. Everyone else has ditched the Seminary to be with their families, or perhaps had existentialist crises about the conflict of teaching/learning sewing / violin / French as the country is torn apart, causing them to wander country roads in search of meaning (my fan-fiction, not really within the movie). The school is a mansion on a small plantation, and has run into disrepair, as the civil war is raging outside the iron gates. At first, the ladies hide the charming Union soldier from the Confederates, who check in on the school. Later, they are confronted by the consequences of this “Christian-minded” action, as McBurney disrupts the equilibrium of this little community. I’m comfortable giving away this plot (for free!) as the film is not that interested in it. Instead, it luxuriates in the humid and tense atmosphere of a school being reclaimed by nature and repressed feelings. And there’s the crux.
There’s something intensely divisive about Sofia Coppola, and it’s all laid out in this movie. Her films are not plotty, but interested in developing and examining moods. Lost in Translation, generally recognized as her best, does not rely on twists or long character arcs, but mostly observes vulnerable people in various comic/tragic situations. The same could be said for probably all her films. But she matches this with a dedication to making these observed worlds beautiful and vibrant. The Virginia of The Beguiled is beautiful but more dark and moody than anything she’s ever done. The set decoration and locations are alluring and inviting and ominous on the edges, almost to the level of gothic-horror. The costumes are ridiculous – while not a Civil War historian myself (yet), I’d assume they’re pretty authentic, and are at least authentic to the mood of the movie. It’s an elaborate but organically staged morality tale, and the ensemble performances bring the tension out of the environment.
Colin Farrell (fun fact: when you look him up on IMDb, the site suggests Phone Booth as that movie you know him from) plays a Union soldier but gets a backstory where he gets to use his own accent (as an Irish soldier volunteering as a Civil War mercenary). He’s a natural charmer and manipulator and lends some true menace along the edges of his performance, whether he’s convalescing on a sofia in a darkened room or… other stuff. Kirsten Dunst completes her fourth Coppola, and is underplaying her teacher-meant-for-better-things character with great finesse – other like-minded historical dramas tend to drift to melodrama, but actors like Dunst play it straight and honest here. Maybe it would have been more fun with more outlandishness (students stabbing teachers, teachers stabbing students, mass hysteria), but that’s not the film that Sofia sets up. The children actors are fantastic too. But the anchor of the movie is the Dame Lady Nicole Kidman as the head of the school. She’s reserved but bursting with repressive energy, after being sparked from the interloping soldier catalyst. She seems to portray eleven different emotions at the same time and is magnetic when she’s moving full force through the film with brutally pragmatic efficiency. She’s an old-school movie star and deserves any movie’s attention. Or all movies’ attentions.
Full disclosure, I haven’t seen the original 1971 film version with Clint Eastwood. Take it for what you will, but Coppola has stated that the film is an interpretation of the original novel, and not the original film.
So there you have it. If you’re intrigued by this film review or the film itself, I’d still say there’s a 50/50 chance you won’t enjoy it. I don’t say that because I’m proud that I enjoyed it, or I get it, and other people don’t – I’m saying that because, while I’ve sung some praises, it’s easy to see the flaws that could tune anybody out. While I appreciate the beauty and stateliness of the environments and performances, it’s also fussy, mannered, bloodless (at times) and static to a fault sometimes. There’s not much in the way of levity in this – even the jokes and leisure time in the movie are overlaid with tension and self-seriousness. But I enjoyed it. Maybe you would.
Is it Watchlist-worthy? Yes, with the reservations laid out above – the movie is not a “good hang.” It’s a self-serious mood movie – if that’s your bag, dig in.
