Drama starring Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman and Kirsten Dunst. A wounded Union soldier finds shelter from the Civil War in a remote girls' school. As the teachers and students vie for his attention, the threat of violence hangs over his sick bed while their repressed passions spiral out of control.
Sofia Coppola directs this hypnotic, if rather academic, remake of the 1970 Clint Eastwood drama about the erotic goings-on within a ruralgirls' school in Virginia during the American Civil War. The storyis much the same: wounded Union soldier Colin Farrell is secretly taken in by headmistress Nicole Kidman and her charges, and his presence soon provokes a complicated mix of disgust, arousal and envy. Whenhe flirtswithbothteacher Kirsten Dunstandworldly teenager Elle Fanning, the group's simmering tensions boil over into shocking violence.Drawing both from Don Siegel's film and Thomas P Cullinan's original novel, Coppola directswith a slow, sensual style that evokes the deep, competing desires of her excellent ensemble.She alsomakes the most of Philippe Le Sourd's textured cinematography and Anne Ross's deliciously decaying production design, although the film's beauty often hamstrings the story's momentum. A thoughtful attempt to reclaim a sexist cult item, this is watchable enough, but it isnever as grippingly illicit as Siegel's fascinating original.
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Corporal McBurney | Colin Farrell (2) |
| Miss Martha | Nicole Kidman |
| Edwina | Kirsten Dunst |
| Alicia | Elle Fanning |
| Amy | Oona Laurence |
| Jane | Angourie Rice |
| Marie | Addison Riecke |
| Emily | Emma Howard |
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Director | Sofia Coppola |
