Don’t let the pastel dresses and the soft glow of Nicole Kidman’s skin fool you into thinking that Sofia Coppola’s “The Beguiled” is a flighty, puppy-chase love race to win Colin Farrell.
Okay, that was a mouthful. All I’m saying is that you’ve been warned: The film that won Coppola her Best Director Award at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival may just be the one to give you the creeps for a few nights.
The film starts screening here on July 26, but I couldn’t wait to talk about it–and where it came from.
Coppola’s film is based on Thomas P. Cullinan’s novel of the same name. While the latest version flaunts pretty colors and sunny scenes, the book and Don Siegel’s 1971 version of the film are anything but. Thanks to the trailers that got me hooked, I sat down to watch Don Siegel’s take on it and, well, it got me more obsessed. And creeped out.
(Run now, all ye who haven’t watched either films! I don’t want to spoil it for the poor curious folks out there.)
Set in a time of war, the gothic adaptation echoes the tale of a wounded Union solder John McBurney (then played by the masculine Clint Eastwood) who was rescued and dragged by a 12-year-old to her all-girl boarding school. In here, he finds comfort, rest, and security in the company of girls and women who ogle at him. The story takes a few sexual, romantic, and violent turns, ultimately ending in a conclusion that reeks of revenge, death, and horror.
I already anticipate Coppola’s film to be less gritty than Siegel’s. The latter has signature ’70s camp written all over it, not to mention the eyebrow-raising scenes that made me squeak in my seat. Perhaps, it’s the age that made Siegel’s version a cult classic, but I think it’s the way he made each scene brim with tension, lust, and suspense that they all spilled out to the viewer like an overpowering tsunami. Either way, it was great as it is.
If watching Marie Antoinette and The Bling Ring taught me anything, the 2017 film can still give a fresh angle to it. What does the story look like from the perspective of the women? How does it feel to be needed from where they stand? Are women really the downfall of men?
We have to wait to find out.
