I'm 27, a freelance hack based in London, where I've lived all my life.
I'm 27, a freelance hack based in London, where I've lived all my life.
Member since:15.12.2000
Reviews:154
Members who trust:129
I saw this film last night and am still thinking about it this morning, which is generally a good sign. I still can't work out exactly what I think,, my conclusion so far is that it's potentially an amazing and very original film that somehow, somewhere sells itself short.
What do I mean? Okay, here's a rough idea of the plot, such as it is. There's no point warning of spoilers here incidentally, as the movie title pretty much gives it away: It's about a family of five girls, the Lisbon family, who live with their very strict parents and who all commit suicide. Through them, it tries to be a film about emotional repressions, adolescence, developing sexuality and freedom and at times succeeds very powerfully.
The film is narrated by a male voice, looking back at his childhood and his encounters with the Lisbon girls in a stand-by-me kinda way. I half expected him to start out by saying "I guess we were never quite the same after that summer', but Coppola is actually very good at ducking cliches. It's an interesting choice of perspective given
the movie is both written and directed - unusally - by a woman. There aren't that many females in Hollywood with that sort of clout but the surname gives it all away - the woman in question is Sofia Coppola, in her first major picture debut as a director.
The story begins with the suicide of the first Lisbon girl, the youngest, Cecilia, who tries to cut her wrists and fails. She then succeeds shortly afterwards, after her parents, clearly totally out of depth in the emotional intensity of their daughter's desire to die, throw her a misguided party. Therefore, why she did it becomes the first question of the film, a question that is answered by the unfolding story of the utterly restricted lives the girls lead, which at one point leads them to communicate with the boys outside by playing records down a telephone, in one of the films most original and moving scenes. Only one of the girls is, however, developed as a character in any way. She's the sexiest, Lux, who is lusted after by every boy in school, including the luscious Trip. Trip romances her in a way that would have totally won me over and more when I was fourteen, convinces her parents to let him take her to the Homecoming Ball where their idyllic romance blossoms, leading them to abandon the party and sleep on the football pitch instead. This bit of the story is narrated by Trip, who's talking about how much he loved her and cared about her and how amazing she was. She risks everything by staying out all night against her parent's wishes, only to wake up alone in the morning on the football pitch with no sign of Trip. I defy anyone at that point not to feel the betrayal and disillusionment of first love gone wrong: it's a beautiful scene. In just a few seconds, as Trip walks away while his voiceover tells us how special she was, Coppola tells us how Lux's heart was broken, about the unthinking damage it is possible to inflict on another human being and about the utter failure of adolescent boys and girls to understand each other.
I write about this in some depth because it is the most emotionally telling moment of the whole film, and therein lies part of its problem. This disappointment crushes Lux, who goes completely off the rails but entirely in her own head - there's no room for emotional anguish in their tightly controlled household. It explains, essentially, why she kills herself. If the characters of the other Lisbon girls had been developed and explored in the same way, the film would have been truly incredible. Instead, the others - including Cecilia - remain cut-out characters who are almost impossible to tell apart, which means their deaths have no real emotional impact beyond the fact that they've killed themselves - which, to be frank, we knew they were going to do all along. If the poignancy in Lux choosing death as the only way out of her pain were echoed by reasons for the deaths of the others, this could be a seriously powerful film. Instead, the other girls are wasted as symbols, albeit symbols of a very powerful proposition: that if life is this restricted, the only true freedom lies in death. Yet two-dimensional symbols they remain.
Is this Coppola's fault? As writer and director, it must be. Quite why she chose to make it this unbalanced is beyond me, especially as she shows such a deft hand in other aspects of movie making. She can certainly frame a shot - this film reminded me in some ways of American Beauty in its photography, tho' not as assured - and she's got a great eye for gesture and expression. The whole movie has a hazy, retrospective feel, sunny but somehow remote, like an old memory, and it's very nicely sustained. She uses dialogue sparsely and well. Overall, this is a very deliberately understated film, at times overly so, but that makes a nice change from the normal hollywood overkill - and if it suffers from the impression that she's trying too hard to distance herself from Daddy's work, well, who can blame her? Essentially, I'm really glad I saw this - but I think her next film will be much, much better.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
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
I kind of agree with you when you say that Lux's death is a stand alone, yet Cecelia's death was a crucial point in the film also. I was going to say that Lux's death represented the other girls suicudes aswell - they are all sisters, and all of them could have done the same thing as Lux (ie. sleeping with random guys). Maybe they wished that they had, so in a way Lux was representing them all. It's deep. ~Paul
WhiteWitch 02.05.2001 13:37
This looks very interesting. Must look out for it. Great op by the way. I wonder if five really intense emotional suicides would be too difficult for the audience to respond to and might lessen the impact of the rather poignant suicide of Lux?
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: 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 :-)
EnglishPatient 08.02.2001 (08.02.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Virgin Suicides (DVD)
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]")
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