Shallow but alluring.

War is good for absolutely nothing. I think we can all agree on this. That said, it has been the backdrop to some of cinema’s finest moments. Like the western, the war film is an entirely malleable genre and a blank canvas to be painted on as national and international zeitgeists dictate, often with devastating results. Whether throwing you head-first onto the front line or to war’s more tangential moments, the genre is an ever-evolving discussion on society and the nature of human conflict.

Over a century and a half since it’s end, the American Civil War continues to stir emotion and conversation around the country and, as well as being one of the most frequented eras in American literature history, the conflict has a storied film past, stretching back to cinema’s very birth. The war itself is an incredibly divisive one, even to this day, and any dissection of the subject will likely dig deep into the inherent questions America has of itself.

Though it’ll never produce any definitive answers, cinema offers one of the most effective tools with which to examine the war from all angles and all sides, in the hope that some conclusions can be arrived at. By focusing on the unseen side of the conflict, The Beguiled offers its own unique take on the American Civil War, giving a first-hand account of the isolation and disconnection caused in times of conflict and the toll taken on those left on the battle's side-lines.

As war rages around them, the residents of a Virginia boarding school are rocked when wounded Union soldier Corporal McBurney (Colin Farrell) lands on their doorstep. Sheltered from the outside world, the young women of the Southern seminary take in the injured enemy but, as they tend to his wounds, the house becomes gripped with sexual tension and dangerous rivalries, leading to a shocking turn of events. As the young women struggle to keep a handle on their burgeoning feelings, it’s left to the school’s head Miss Martha (Nicole Kidman) to pull things together, but with her own yearnings beginning to grow stronger, their once simple life thrown into chaos.

The Beguiled is, as the title suggests, a truly beguiling one. While it represents the quintessential Sofia Coppola film, it nonetheless feels a step apart from anything else in her filmography. Although far from her first foray into period drama, The Beguiled appears as a separate entity entirely from the hyper-stylised Marie Antoinette, to reveal a director finally able to stretch her wings. After years spent living in the shadow of her father and finding herself the punchline to Godfather jokes the world over, The Beguiled marks a pivotal moment in Coppola’s career; one full of promise of a new directorial horizons, yet ultimately tied down by some very familiar complaints.

Set amidst one of America’s bloodiest conflicts, The Beguiled is not just a war film; for better or worse, it’s every bit a Sofia Coppola war film. While the attempt to dip her toes into unknown genre waters is a refreshing turn of pace for the director, there’s little denying that all her usual sensibilities continue to make themselves known.  Presenting a secluded pocket of women trapped on the fringes of a world populated by absent, warring men; the film proudly displays the director’s trademark themes of isolation and identity while mixing in a melodramatic, pulpy style that makes The Beguiled one of Coppola’s most accessible films to date.

A remake of the 1971 Clint Eastwood oddity, Coppola switches that film’s perspective wholesale; shifting focus from its solo male figure to the female ensemble, in a move that feels wise, while fitting a contemporary viewpoint perfectly. With no qualms in utilising lingering views of Corporal McBurney’s semi-naked body and through a focus on the complexities that such an unforeseen situation would have on the young women of the seminary, The Beguiled is shot primarily through a female gaze and the result is an abrupt U-turn from the original’s simplistic depiction of female sexuality.

Released the same year as Dirty Harry and with Clint Eastwood at the peak of his power, it’s little wonder that the 71 version felt obliged to angle things from its star man’s perspective but Sophia Coppola clearly has no room for such sentiments. Far less concerned with emasculation, the director flips focus onto the women and, in doing so, opens it up to an exploration of burgeoning female empowerment amidst a habitually testosterone-fuelled wartime milieu.

Emotional and sexual awakenings are the name of the game here and, as is to be expected from any Sophia Coppola film, The Beguiled handles these subjects proficiently. Decades after its release, the Eastwood version really hasn’t held up particularly well, with the film’s crude representation of female sexuality problematic to say the least; so it’s a relief to see Coppola bring it to task to eloquently.

With sexual tension as thick as the Virginian air, this is Coppola in her element as she understands the subtleties of lust and desire in her female cast so instinctively; playing with these elements in ways that Eastwood’s version just couldn’t or, more accurately, wouldn’t. As Miss Martha and her pupils sit down for one absurdly fancy dinner of chicken, apple pie, and a large dollop of lust; freshly prepared for their bewildered male guest, Coppola manages to nail a primal, yet nuanced, form sexuality rarely seen within such a setting. By depicting this group of women with dimension, subtlety and emotional individuality, The Beguiled feels far more resonant for a modern audience.

As the film’s big players; Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, and Kirsten Dunst do a steady job of steering the ensemble, with Farrell’s effortless charm bouncing wonderfully off Kidman’s buttoned-down authority and Dunst’s tightly-wound fragility. But, while its stars succeed in keeping things steady, it’s The Beguiled’s young cast that shine the brightest. Cutting through the dour nature of the more senior characters, the boarding school’s young residents provide a levity and a lightness of touch that stops the film just short of taking itself far too seriously.

Taking a step further away from her sister’s shadow, Elle Fanning’s Alicia - the oldest and most sexually advanced of the girls - is the film’s true driving force, as she’s able to balance a naive innocence and a roguish spark that carries with it much of The Beguiled’s drama. Acting as the bridge between youth and adulthood, Alicia is at the centre of the film’s storm; her barely contained sexuality acting as the plot’s ticking time bomb and her surly, adolescent exterior appearing on the edge of collapse throughout.

While solid performances from the film’s ensemble certainly inject intrigue and simmering melodrama, there’s a disappointing lack of substance to The Beguiled, leaving it feeling decidedly incidental and stumbling in exactly the same areas many other Sofia Coppola movies do. The Beguiled is beautifully shot, with the director working meticulously to build on the film’s deliberate, Southern Gothic atmosphere but, with such a significant lack depth, it all equates to very little.

Accusations of style over substance have dogged Coppola throughout her entire career and, despite its merits, The Beguiled falls into the same trap. While Coppola has become a master of building atmosphere and bottling ennui, The Beguiled all but confirms her inability to handle anything deeper as, regardless of how much simmering sexual tension it lays on, the film’s distinct lack of emotional engagement is glaring.

Many intriguing issues are raised but few are followed up on, as the film appears unconcerned with digging any deeper than a surface level. It amounts to a rather unsatisfying viewing experience, as Coppola spends an age focusing on wistful stares and melodramatic swooning before abruptly slamming the book shut with an ending that feels far too rushed. The film flat-out refuses to examine its characters or their links to the war raging around them with much depth beyond their desires and sexuality, and it’s a real shame as there’s so much inherent potential there to do so.

Although the emotional impact feels lacking, the director’s command of visual storytelling is not to be underestimated, with The Beguiled nothing less than beautiful from beginning to end. Firmly rooted in America’s South, the film’s mist hangs as heavy on the fields surrounding the seminary, as the war does on those living amidst it. Coppola and her cinematographer, Philippe Le Sourd, paint a beautifully haunting picture, bursting at the seams with an alluring Southern Gothic style that stealthily draws you in.

With sunlight filtering through ghost-like Spanish moss and the soft, Southern wind floating through the long grass, the film builds an appropriately isolating and detached atmosphere that subtly speaks to a country divided and to those lost on its fringes. As the film switches between the peaceful melancholy of its rural exteriors to the claustrophobic, emotional anarchy inside the seminary, Coppola utilises the film’s single location to perfection; subtly encapsulating a war that’s run its course and the toll it has taken on those caught within it.

Although she struggles for depth, Sofia Coppola’s beautifully realised Southern Gothic tale is a truly haunting experience and as beguiling as the title suggests. As a unique, personal take on war and the toll it takes, The Beguiled is an evocative allegory for female empowerment that manages to take the themes and perspectives of the Clint Eastwood original and spin them on their head. With beautifully measured cinematography and a tense script, The Beguiled operates perfectly as a pulpy tale of isolation and war but, like much of Coppola’s work, struggles to express itself beyond that, severely limiting the film’s emotional impact. While The Beguiled’s haunting tone and taut sexual atmosphere may be effective in working its way under your skin, the film is unlikely to find its way to your heart.