Sarah Flack’s editing work on Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled renders the atmospheric story into a measured, sexually fraught power play among its eight characters, whose points of view and agendas must be constantly understood and renewed. Her long relationship with the director dates back to Lost in Translation, which grew out of Flack’s reputation for pulling together remarkable work with Steven Soderbergh on films such as The Limey and Full Frontal. She serves on the KVIFF Official Selection jury this year.
The atmosphere and pacing of The Beguiled are quite hypnotic but doesn't every editor get sick of looking at even great footage after 50 times?
Every film of Sofia’s is amazing. But this one was particularly magical, where I never, ever got tired of the footage or the cut scenes.
But it’s a common hazard to feel a little burned out on the material after weeks in the cutting room, isn’t it?
Sometimes I do but with this one and with most of her films I never did. Even now, in the last few weeks, I watched it twice in Cannes and at 2 more screenings in New York and I never get tired of it. Because I also enjoy hearing and feeling how the audience reacts.
In the press screening people responded with laughter at the sexual tension between the captive soldier and the girls’ school students.
It is meant to be a really dark comedy. We didn’t have a lot of test screenings during the editing because the schedule was so tight to finish it in time for Cannes. So when I heard the laughter in Cannes I was very happy and I think Sofia was too. We were always enjoying the comedic elements as we worked on it.
Making the soldier an Irish mercenary adds interesting angles that weren’t in the 1971 Clint Eastwood film it’s less clear whether he’s a sincere victim of war or an opportunist hoping to seduce them.
Yeah, I thought Colin Farrell did an incredible job with that ambiguity and I believe it was written and intended that way. In the book on which the film is based, he is Irish so Colin Farrell was cast perfectly.
You can read the whole interview in today's Festival Daily.
