The Beguiled is a 2017 American Southern Gothic film written and directed by Sofia Coppola, based on the novel of the same name (originally published as A Painted Devil) by Thomas P. Cullinan. It stars Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, and Elle Fanning. It is the second film adaptation of Cullinan’s novel, following Don Siegel’s 1971 film of the same name.
It premiered on May 24 at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, and was selected to compete for the Palme d’Or in its main competition section, where Coppola won the Best Director award, becoming only the second woman to do so. The film was released theatrically on June 23, 2017, by Focus Features.
Plot
Martha Farnsworth runs a girls school in Virginia during the Civil War. By 1864, almost all of the students, teachers, and slaves have left. In addition to Farnsworth herself, only five students and one teacher, Edwina Morrow, remain. While out in the woods searching for mushrooms, Amy, a pupil, comes across John McBurney, a corporal in the Union Army who was wounded in the leg during battle, and has since deserted. Amy brings McBurney to the school where he falls unconscious. The women lock McBurney in one of the rooms while Miss Farnsworth tends to his wounds. All the women and girls in the school are immediately fascinated by the handsome man.
Initially, some of the school’s residents want McBurney to be delivered as a prisoner of war to the Confederate Army, but Miss Farnsworth decides that they will let his leg heal before they decide what they will do with him. When Confederate soldiers arrive at the school, Miss Farnsworth does not tell them that a Union soldier is on the premises. While McBurney is recovering, the women and girls subtly vie for his affection by giving him presents, wearing jewelry, and preparing a lavish dinner for him. He returns the affection, concentrating especially on Miss Morrow and Miss Farnsworth. When he is able to move again, he begins to help in the garden. It becomes clear that he fears returning to battle.
When Miss Farnsworth indicates that McBurney is healthy enough and will have to leave the school in a few days, he tries to convince her to let him stay as a gardener, and tells Miss Morrow that he has fallen in love with her. One night, he tells Miss Morrow to await him in her room. When he does not appear and she hears strange noises, she investigates and finds him in bed with Alicia, a teenage pupil. McBurney tries to calm the angry Miss Morrow down, but she pushes him away, causing him to fall down the stairs and badly break his already injured leg. Miss Farnsworth decides that the only way to save his life is to amputate the leg.
When he awakes the next day and realizes he has lost his leg, McBurney is devastated and furious, accusing the women (and especially Miss Farnsworth) of having punished him for choosing Alicia’s room instead of theirs. He is locked up in his room but threatens Alicia, who gets him the room key. He then breaks out, steals a gun, and loudly threatens the women before storming off. Miss Morrow follows him to his room, where she initiates a sexual encounter.
Meanwhile Miss Farnsworth tries to find a solution. One of the students suggests killing McBurney by preparing him a dinner of poisonous mushrooms, to which Miss Farnsworth agrees. During the dinner, Miss Morrow, unaware of the plan, is deterred by the others at the last minute from putting the mushrooms on her own plate, but McBurney’s suspicions are not aroused. Promptly after eating the mushrooms, he falls to the floor in the throes of death. While the others are sewing McBurney’s body into a shroud, Miss Morrow looks on, devastated. The film ends with the women dragging McBurney’s body to the road so that he will be found by the next Confederate soldiers who pass by.
Cast
Colin Farrell as Corporal John McBurney
Nicole Kidman as Miss Martha Farnsworth
Kirsten Dunst as Miss Edwina Morrow
Elle Fanning as Alicia
Oona Laurence as Amy
Angourie Rice as Jane
Addison Riecke as Marie
Emma Howard as Emily
Wayne Pere as The Captain
Matt Story as Confederate Soldier
Joel Albin as Cavalry Man
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