Sofia Coppola made a couple of very good films and a couple of ‘alright ones’. In “The Beguiled” (falling in the latter category) she returns to the costume drama genre with a film playing in America during the Civil War.
In a house full of young ladies a wounded soldier in found in the garden. The soldier is a Yankee, a Northerling, and the ladies school is in the South. Decided is to have the soldier heal and send him on his way. The girls are of a variety of ages, from young to adolescent to young adult. Of course all find the soldier very interesting bringing friction among the inhabitants.
There is not much of a story to the film. Coppola more seems to aim at displaying psychological changes that occur in the group with the arrival of the stranger. Also, even though we never leave the house and its direct surroundings, the film gives an idea of what it was like in the time of the war between North and South.
A star cast drama for a rainy autumn evening, but not a film to place high on your list.
