The Beguiled. 1971. USA. Directed by Don Siegel. Screenplay by John B. Sherry, Grimes Grice [Albert Maltz, Irene Kamp], based on the novel by Thomas Cullinan. With Clint Eastwood, Geraldine Page, Elizabeth Hartman, Jo Ann Harris, Mae Mercer, Pamelyn Ferdin. DCP. 105 min.
Technically a Southern Gothic thriller, but with the DNA of a Western, The Beguiled was the third collaboration between Don Siegel and Clint Eastwood. It’s also the most unexpected, a dark study of female desire and male masochism that Siegel later named his personal favorite among his films. The setup is elemental: Corporal John McBurney, a wounded Union soldier who takes refuge in an all-girls seminary deep in Louisiana, manipulates the school’s teachers and students with such practiced confidence that he cannot read the danger accumulating around him. Cinematographer Bruce Surtees, in the first of many collaborations with Eastwood, builds the interiors in candlelight and shadow in a premodern world untouched by electricity.
Geraldine Page’s headmistress Martha carries her own secrets with a composure that only sharpens as Eastwood’s character is systematically deprived of his manhood. But the film ultimately belongs to Elizabeth Hartman as Edwina, the virginal teacher whose awakened sexuality leads to tragedy.