The Beguiled, starring Nicole Kidman, Colin Farrell, Kirsten Dunst and Elle Fanning hit theaters in LA and NY last week and will be releasing wide this Friday. I got to screen the movie a couple of weeks ago and now I finally get to share my thoughts with you. If you have already seen the movie, I would love to read your comments in the comment section below. And be sure to check out my interview with Sofia Coppola, Kirsten Dunst and Elle Fanning if you haven’t already.

The Beguiled Trailer

The Beguiled is currently in theaters in NY and LA and releases to a wider audience on Friday. “The Beguiled” is an atmospheric thriller from acclaimed writer/director Sofia Coppola. The story unfolds during the Civil War, at a Southern girls’ boarding school. Its sheltered young women take in an injured enemy soldier. As they provide refuge and tend to his wounds, the house is taken over with sexual tension and dangerous rivalries, and taboos are broken in an unexpected turn of events.

My Thoughts On The Beguiled

After screening Sofia Coppola’s version of The Beguiled, I came home and watched the 1971 version starring Clint Eastwood. So, I will be comparing and contrasting the two in this review as I feel there have been some very important changes in the 2017 version. There are spoilers, but I tried to keep them to a minimum.

The Beguiled [1971]

First things first, I didn’t love the 1971 version starring Clint Eastwood. Sorry. I mean, it’s ok, but I didn’t really feel an attachment to any of the characters emotionally. Clint Eastwood’s character was a borderline pedophile and Miss Martha had a really weird relationship with her brother – none of which was vital to the story, in my opinion. Maybe it was added in for shock value. I mean, I think this particular version of The Beguiled should have been a much longer movie if they were going to delve into so many unrelated, yet complicated matters. The Beguiled [1971] touched lightly on the topics of pedophilia, incest, casualties of war due to rogue soldiers, women’s causes during the war, slavery and more. Any of these topics would have been enough to hold a movie on their own merit and interest value but were too much to cover in any real detail in this one regular length movie. Again, the movie was ok, but I probably would not watch it again.

The Beguiled [2017]

And that is why I love Sofia Coppola’s version. I think she took something with potential, cleaned it up, and made it into a very intriguing story that more people can relate to. I was really interested in the characters in her movie because they were far more developed individually. She took out all of the distracting and unnecessary plot lines and formed one very compelling story. I like that the 2017 version of The Beguiled was focused more on the human emotions one would expect that these women would experience during the Civil War: the fear and the sexual tension. I also had empathy for everyone involved at some point during the movie. They were all humans stuck in an unimaginably difficult situation, dealing with their circumstances the best way they knew how.

All of the casting was perfect, in particular Colin Farrell and Kirsten Dunst. I didn’t know that Kirsten Dunst could play it so demure and serious all at once. I loved her acting work before but I am even more of a fan now. And Colin Farrell was so easy to despise and still love at the same time. The turtle scene made me want to tear him limb from limb but I still found myself empathizing with him during most of the remainder movie. So many emotions.

I say skip the first version unless you are just a die hard Clint Eastwood fan and go see Sofia Coppola’s version instead. I plan on seeing it again myself as soon as it comes to the theater in my area. 🙂

After all this seriousness, would you like to see something funny? Check out the ladies joking around on set in 1860s Girls Gone Wild.

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