History Film / TheBeguiled

* UnreliableVoiceover: John tells Ms. Martha that he did not carry a gun on the battlefield and that he was wounded when he was helping a confederate soldier. At the same time, a {{Flashback}} shows what really happened: John was lying in ambush and shooting at confederate soldiers when he was shot.

* MoralityPet: Amy for Corporal McBurney.

There are two different film adaptations of the story, which was originally a 1966 novel by Thomas P. Cullinan. The 1971 film was directed by Creator/DonSiegel and starred Creator/ClintEastwood as the wounded soldier. The 2017 film was directed by Creator/SofiaCoppola, and featured Creator/ColinFarrell as the soldier.

There are two different film adaptations of the story, which was originally a 1966 novel by Thomas P. Cullinan. The 1971 film was directed by Don Siegel and starred Creator/ClintEastwood as the wounded soldier. The 2017 film was directed by Creator/SofiaCoppola, and featured Creator/ColinFarrell as the soldier.

* InvinoVeritas: A combination of wine and delirium from pain [[spoiler: due to tumbling down a staircase and fracturing his bad leg]] causes John to comment lewdly on Ms. Martha.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:The story ends with the infamous death of John after deceived and angry girls poisoned him.]]

* AndCallHimGeorge: Amy has a crow under her care, tethered to a balcony railing in the hopes that he soon heals from a damaged wing. [[spoiler: It dies struggling to keep itself upright on the railing thanks to this short tether]].

* CorruptTheCutie: poor Amy has to experience the hesrtbreak of being led on by a manipulative lecher like John, the details of which she doesn't quite understand. Once John [[spoiler: Kills her pet turtle Randall]], all bets are off, and she readily agrees to [[spoiler: pick some poison mushrooms with which to feed John.]]

* EnfantTerrible: [[spoiler:As it turns out in the epilogue, Amy is proud that John died because of her poisonous mushrooms, after which she even smiles, looking at the viewer.]]
** [[spoiler: On the other hand, she was actually a kind-heated young girl, who unfortunately ended up becoming a victim of Mc Burney, who both led her on romantically and killed her beloved pet turtle.]]

* PatrioticFervor: Doris is a proud young Confederate and shares much initial disdain towards John McBurney for being a Yankee soldier.

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Mcburney is portrayed more sympathetically in this version.
** YMMV - John certainly is polite and sympathetic [[spoiler: ... and a ManipulativeBastard in the extreme.]]
* AdaptationalHeroism: The novel and Siegel's film imply that [[spoiler: Miss Martha amputates John's leg out of vindictive jealously for him sleeping with Alicia, whereas in this version it comes across more as a genuine last resort measure that she does reluctantly.]]
* HotTeacher: Edwina, the teacher of the seminary.
* IdiotBall: John. On the exact same night he first asks Edwina to be allowed into her room, he goes to sleep with another girl instead. Of course Edwina was not going to sleep and was more alert to what was going on in the house. This all resulted in his downfall, both literally and figuratively. throu
** He also alienated two of the girls that were still sympathetic to him to a degree by pulling one's hair and throwing the other's beloved turtle through the room.
* KickTheDog: [[spoiler: John throws Amy's pet tortoise across the room when confronting the women.]]
* ManipulativeBastard: [[spoiler: John is awfully attentive to the ladies, finding shrewd ways of flattering them individually and making each of them think he has a particular interest in them in order to better manipulate them. On the more subtle end, he compliments Miss Martha's intelligence and implies he's sexually interested in her, while he finds a way to take Amy aside and tell her she's the "best friend" he has in the school and he owes her his life. To Edwina he baldly states during their first meeting that she is the most delicate beauty he has ever encountered, and all the while he's quite happily trying to sleep with Alicia.]]

* PragmaticAdaptation: The 2017 film significantly reduces the number of girls that John meets and at the same time, and leaves only one teenage girl, making the story deeper and ignoring the disturbing pedophilic overtones.

* MadonnaWhoreComplex:

* TheVamp: Carol seems to only engage with John on a flirtatious basis and takes care to [[ShowSomeLeg unbutton her blouse]] when inviting John to a tryst in the attic after dark.

* TheVamp: Carol seems to only engage with John on a flirtatious basis and takes care to [[ShowSomeLeg unbutton her blouse when inviting John to a tryst in the attic after dark.

** YMMV - John certainly is polite and sympathetic [[spoiler: ... and awfully attentive to the ladies, finding shrewd ways of flattering them individually and making each of them think he has a particular interest in them. On the more subtle end, he compliments Miss Martha's intelligence, while he finds a way to take Amy aside and tell her she's the "best friend" he has in the school and he owes her his life. To Edwina he baldly states during their first meeting that she is the most delicate beauty he has ever encountered.]]