'The Beguiled' Review: Sofia Coppola has mad skills!

🌟The Beguiled🌟Review🌟8/10🌟

Directed by Sofia Coppola

Starring: Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, Colin Farrell and Elle Fanning

Sofia Coppola's 'The Beguiled' is, if im honest a great period piece, beautifully made, well-cast and well-acted. Gorgeously shot, it often looks more like a Turner painting than a film, and the use of sound (and silence) is impeccable.

It is well-paced, lean yet meditative, and is contained in a single setting that, along with a broader context of Civil-War-Virginia, is used to brilliant effect. The exposition is subtle, characters complex and intriguing, and their interactions captivating. There is little to fault this film for, both in conception and execution. Yet it is somehow also underwhelming.

Coppola constructs a contained, oppressive environment, populates it with dynamic, unpredictable women and then introduces a disruptive element. The explosion that happens is more of a splash than a bang, however. If any film could descend into madness and human depravity in its third act, supported by confident direction and remarkable actors, it is this one. Coppola, whether out of loyalty to the source material or not, opts for a quieter version that never allows the characters to erupt as they seem to be set up to do. I enjoyed it and definitely recommend it.