The overall rating of a review is different from a simple average of all individual ratings.
Advantages:
What more can be said? It's outstanding in every respect
Disadvantages:
Subject matter could be too morose and reflective for some, it's not exactly action - packed either . Probably not suitable as a post - pub choice with your mates : - )
Recommendable
Yes:
Detailed rating:
Did you enjoy it?
Story
Characters / Performances
Special Effects
How does it compare to similar films?
SoundtrackOutstanding
How does it compare to others by the same director?Not applicable
And so, EnglishPatient - as a standalone entity - is no more. This account will self-destruct within...
And so, EnglishPatient - as a standalone entity - is no more. This account will self-destruct within approximately 24 hours. I can now be found under the name of DoubleTrouble - a collaboration with fellow Ciao user Broksababe. See you there!
Member since:30.07.2000
Reviews:132
Members who trust:59
One of the most acclaimed films of last year was this debut feature from Sofia (daughter of Francis Ford) Coppola. Adapted from the novel by Jeffrey Eugenides, it's a beautifully subdued affair.
The Virgin Suicides is set in a mid-1970s American suburbia of sun-kissed lawns and dying elm trees. As its title might suggest, it is the story of hormonal teenage melancholy that ends in tragic circumstances. Five girls, all sisters, driven to their deaths by a claustrophobic and unnaturally sheltered life under the tyrannical watch of their fanatically religious mother.
This is not to reveal anything that isn't laid out for the viewer within the opening five minutes, for as with American Beauty the ultimate fate of these characters is known from the outset - via Giovanni Ribisi's uncredited, restrospective voice-over.
Casting his mind back to the events that still haunt him and the four friends who knew the sisters in the final months of their short lives, a poignant elegy is unfolded piece by piece.
Framed by a woozy environment of blooming adolescence and its attendant
uncertainties, the descent from an outwardly idyllic existence is set in motion by the youngest sibling's attempted suicide. Soon, the fragile family facade stubbornly perpetuated by a domineering mother and henpecked father is swiftly exposed.
Their beautiful, almost ethereal, daughters are unsurprisingly the focus of interest for many of the community's young males. This is only heightened by subsequent developments, which fail to set the relevant alarm bells ringing in the minds of the girls' parents.
Despite the air of inevitability, The Virgin Suicides is not an especially depressing experience for the majority of its 90 minutes. Evocative, and profoundly moving...it never opts for the hand-wringing approach and avoids unnecessary overstating of the sisters' plight.
They are seen here only through the diaries found after their death, and the eyes of the boys who knew them, albeit mostly from a tantalising distance. It's as much their story as anyone's, the awkward courting rituals of youth which both parties engage in willingly offering glimpses of a freedom that, sadly, would ultimately prove elusive to the doomed girls.
Coppola directs with all the skill and intelligence of an established figure than the (officially at least) newcomer she apparently was at the time of this film. The feel is muted, bathed in a summery haziness that makes it almost the seasonal flipside of Ang Lee's expertly-realised 1997 gem The Ice Storm.
Headlining a fabulous cast are James Woods and Kathleen Turner as the parents of these vulnerable creatures, and both play against type with memorable results. No grandstanding, not even one explosive exchange of dialogue takes place in the movie, and thus intimation and suggestion is all. Woods' and Turners' subtly commanding performances leave no need for detailed exposition of their characters and psychology, what's hinted at and referred to in the excellent script is more than adequate.
So, too, with Kirsten Dunst..the most wilful and sexually voracious of the cosetted quintet. Flirtatious and confident of her sexuality, she is central to the unravelling tragedy. Already with an impressive CV under her belt (including that remarkable turn in Interview With The Vampire), Dunst finds a depth to her character with delightful ease.
This is an ensemble piece, however, with more contributions than space allows. Josh Hartnett - who stole the show in 1999's Highschool alien flick The Faculty - comes up trumps again as the worldly young man who shuns the universal adoration of the town's female populace due to a passion for one of the sisters. It's a perfectly-judged portrayal, and the ramifications of his involvement are revealed in a surprise manoeuvre during the film - adding further pathos to a film drenched in it.
It saves the sucker punch for the expected denouement, but like Sam Mendes' revelatory final twist in American Beauty there is a genuine shock in the timing of the actual suicides.
Accompanied by a soundtrack that mixes a gorgeous, specially-composed score by those French smoothies Air with music from the era (including 10cc's seminal I'm Not In Love, Carole King's So Far Away, and several Todd Rungren tracks), The Virgin Suicides is a stunning example of understated, yet unforgettable, cinema.
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Production Year: 1995 - Drama - Director: Ang Lee - Original Language: English - Classification: Universal - Starring: Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, Greg Wise, Hugh Laurie, Robert Hardy
Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
Production Year: 1995 - Drama - Director: Ang Lee - Original Language: English - Classification: Universal - Starring: Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, Greg Wise, Hugh Laurie, Robert Hardy
Sophia Coppola's alternately dreamy and unsettling film about five suburban sisters who ... more
all mysteriously kill themselves (the voice-over tells you as much in the first five minutes) casts a witchy spell that lingers like drugstore perfume on a hot day....
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Sophia Coppola's alternately dreamy and unsettling film about five suburban sisters who ... more
all mysteriously kill themselves (the voice-over tells you as much in the first five minutes) casts a witchy spell that lingers like drugstore perfume on a hot day....
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
The lives of an eclectic group of boys who live in an affluent American suburb in the ... more
1970s are changed forever by their obsession with five beautiful sisters. The story, told through the recollections of the now grown-up neighbourhood boys, unfolds in...
In 1970s suburbia lived the five beautiful Lisbon sisters whose doomed fates indelibly ... more
marked the neighborhood boys. Therese Mary Bonnie Lux and Cecilia were everything desired and unattainable due to their parents' strict household rules. From afa...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
Advantages: Beautifully made by Sofia Coppola, great soundtrack, original, great cast and brilliant performances. Disadvantages: None for me personally but some might find that the other characters aren't as well developed as Lux.
Advantages: Beautifully made by Sofia Coppola, great soundtrack, original, great cast and brilliant performances. Disadvantages: None for me personally but some might find that the other characters aren't as well developed as Lux.
Advantages: The role of the younger sister, at least one role meant something... Disadvantages: The hugely missable story line and a deeper plot that seems to run at least 6 miles beneath the film.
axtesh 03.06.2001 (10.06.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful
Review of The Virgin Suicides (DVD)
Advantages: excellent performances from scarlett johansson and bill murray and also great direction from soffia coppola Disadvantages: erm maybe a little slow for some people and not an extensive plot....
![The Virgin Suicides [DVD] [2000]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78544413.jpg "The Virgin Suicides [DVD] [2000]")
Feb 8th, 2001
exceptional by (3%):
very helpful by (97%):
