A much more romantic, polished version of this story, and one that suffers for its lack of transgression. The moment the film tells you the “slaves left” and leaves out the incest plot line and Corporal’s kiss with Amy - you know the film is going to be far different than the Eastwood/Seigel version.
But the film really suffers from this overt lack of sin. The grime and dirt and decadence and resentment that pervades the earlier film is missing entirely here.
I’m not sure that it serves the “female perspective” either, nor the film’s verisimilitude. When the original
Beguiled was made - the Civil War was just over 100 years old. The people who made it knew people who knew people who fought there. It was present in a way we cannot conceive.
And that - more than a male or female POV is the major difference between the two films.
A noble failure.