This film was the directorial debut of Sophia Coppola, daughter of Francis Ford. A lot of people will presume that this is another celebrity offspring living off her famous parents name. This is certainly not the case with Sophia Coppola. As well as directing, she also wrote this film, and she tried very hard, but the story she adapted is hard to make sense of at times. One thing is for sure, I hope she stays behind the camera, rather than subject us to anymore wooden acting (see Godfather III).
Based on Jeffrey Eugenides' novel, “The Virgin Suicides”, is the story of the Lisbon sisters, who we are introduced to at the start of the film. They are Bonnie (Chelsea Swain), Lux (Kirsten Dunst), Mary (A. J. Cook), Therese (Leslie Hayman) and Cecilia (Hanna R. Hall). They are the children of strictly religious parents (Kathleen Turner and James Woods) growing up in the1970s.
The local boys are fascinated with the girls, and are shocked at the start of the film when the youngest sister, 13 year old Cecilia attempts suicide by slitting her wrists. They are invited to a party at the Lisbon house, only for Cecilia to leave and throw herself from the bedroom window onto a spiked fence. I found the film difficult to comprehend after this, because although the parents become protective of their remaining children, they grieve little for Cecilia, and make no attempt to discover her reasons for taking her own life.
Lux, who is played so well by Kirsten Dunst, refuses to be caged in by her parents, and is intent on sampling teenage life to the max, especially when she meets Trip Fontaine (Josh Hartnett), and is cruelly dumped at homecoming, which seems to be the catalyst to her becoming so promiscuous that the local boys would watch her having sex on her roof. The film shows Trip later in life revealing many regrets of his treatment of Lux.
The film is narrated in the past tense by the local boys, mostly Giovanni Ribisi, who have things belonging to the girls which help them remember the events of that summer, even 25 years on.
The film lacks pace, and Coppola tries to make up for it with camera angles, but by the end I felt cheated, and was still waiting for some reason for what I had just witnessed so much tragedy. There was too much left unsaid, no reasons for the actions of the characters. We never really get to see into the minds of the girls, and become aware of their emotional state, especially at the end when it seems Coppola had someone tapping their watch at her to hurry her up, as she raced through what is the pivotal event in the whole of the film.
Dunst steals the headlines, but Turner and Woods put in accomplished performances as you would expect. The other actresses playing the sisters fail to make an impact, and are immediately forgotten come the closing credits. Hartnett shows why he is so popular in Hollywood at the moment, and I think we will be seeing a lot of him in the next few years, as he has an on screen presence which is unlike so many other actors of his age.
The soundtrack was a high point of the film, and featured Styx and Heart tracks released by a group called Air, and it complimented the film very well.
All said, I would still recommend this film, as I have not watched it a second time yet, and feel it may be clearer if I do.
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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
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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
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]")
Aug 10th, 2001
(Jan 4th, 2004)
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