The Beguiled (2017)

☆ ☆ ½

The Beguiled (2017) – S. Coppola

I’m making it a habit of being underwhelmed by Sofia Coppola.  I mean, I want to like her films, so I keep giving her a chance.  And then the result is boring or lacklustre or irrelevant.  I don’t think I have really enjoyed one of her films since Lost in Translation, 2003 (and I liked The Virgin Suicides, 1999, which I saw much later, even more).  But this remake of the Don Siegel – Clint Eastwood pic from 1971 (which I only vaguely remember) seems pointless.  There is a suggestion that this version of the original novel is seen from the women’s point of view and that may be so, but it isn’t particularly overt as a statement.  Nicole Kidman runs the girls’ boarding school that has only a few remaining students since the Civil War is raging and Kirsten Dunst is her assistant.  When one of the girls stumbles upon an injured Union soldier (Colin Farrell), they take him in to nurture him even though they should be turning him over to the Confederate troops (this is Virginia).  His presence arouses sexual tension and competition among the women, although very reserved it is because this is the 1860s.  Nevertheless, the tensions rise to a crescendo and the film makes a play for the “thriller” label.  However, it seems to me that Coppola’s interest in that genre is half-hearted at best and she is really all about the atmosphere, the period recreation, and the acting.  She won Best Director at Cannes for this film, but I don’t see it.  Once again, this feels like all surface, no depth.