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141 of 161 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Remarkable Debut for Director Sofia Coppola!, December 7, 2000
'The Virgin Suicides' is a beautiful, understated, and tragic drama, punctuated by great rock music of the late '70s, and featuring terrific performances, particularly by Kirsten Dunst, Josh Hartlett, and a nearly unrecognizable Kathleen Turner. What makes the film even more remarkable is that it is the directorial debut by Francis Ford Coppola's daughter, Sofia, best known prior to this by her less-than-stellar performance in 'Godfather 3'! Her sensitivity with this material establishes her as a director to be reckoned with, and a true talent!The film focuses on the five Lisbon sisters, beautiful, yet repressed by a religious and overly protective mother (Turner), who encourages their intellectual growth, but tries to block any sexual or emotional stirrings. The girls turn their passions into other channels, bonding tightly with one another, and viewing the world as outsiders. When the youngest attempts, then succeeds at killing herself, the family gains an unwanted notoriety, and a group of local boys begin to worship the remaining sisters from afar, gathering materials, and creating a fantasy world about them. Lux, the most beautiful and free-spirited of the sisters (Dunst), attracts the attentions of the most popular boy in school, Tripp (Hartnett), who confuses raging hormones with love, and begins a campaign to 'have' her. Winning the respect of their father (James Woods, in another excellent 'against-type' portrayal), he succeeds in wearing the mother down, and arranges 'dates' for the sisters, so he can take Lux to the Homecoming Dance. The party provides the springboard for the tragedy that gives the film its name, and catapults the girls into icons that the boys who admire them can never forget. There are many reasons to buy this film; Coppola's understanding of how boys and girls interact, and her sure touch with their issues about sexuality; Kirsten Dunst's best performance to date, conveying both sweetness, and barely suppressed erotic desire; Kathleen Turner's breakthrough as a character actress, sacrificing her glamorous persona for a stocky and frumpy matron. There are some excellent cameos, as well, particularly Danny DeVito as a clueless psychiatrist, Scott Glenn as a family priest who offers platitudes instead of comfort, and Michael Paré as an older Tripp, reminiscing about Lux, and their 'love'. This is a very special film, one that you will not soon forget! I highly recommend it!
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33 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Loss Of Innocence, June 8, 2001
The Virgin Suicides is Sofia Coppola's directorial debut, and its effectiveness illustrates that she's better behind the camera than she is in front of it. (Most movie-goers will remember her ill-fated attempt to portray Michael Corleone's daughter in The Godfather III.) Tragic, haunting, and sometimes darkly comedic, this movie leaves a strong impression in its telling of a story about the destruction of innocence. The film is based on the book by Jeffrey Eugenides, which happens to be Coppola's favorite novel. As a result, she felt that, in bringing the adaptation to the screen, she had a strong responsibility to be faithful to the source material. The time frame is the mid-'70s and the setting is an upper class suburban community in Michigan. The film tells the sad story of the five Lisbon sisters - Cecilia (age 13, played by Hanna Hall), Lux (age 14, played by Kirsten Dunst), Bonnie (age 15, played by Chelsea Swain), Mary (age 16, played by A.J. Cook), and Therese (age 17, played by Leslie Hayman) - all of whom come to a bad end before finishing high school (this much is revealed during the introductory voiceover, which is provided by Giovanni Ribisi). Unhappy, neglected Cecilia is the first to give up on life - after surviving one suicide attempt, she is successful on the second try. In the wake of that event, the atmosphere surrounding the surviving sisters becomes grim, and their parents' overprotectiveness threatens to suffocate them. For most children, mothers and fathers set boundaries; for the Lisbons, it's iron bars. The Virgin Suicides is filmed as a memory looking back through 25 years, and the point-of-view is that of a boy who was in love with one (or perhaps all) of the girls. As a result, the events recounted here offer a filtered perspective of the sisters and the complexities of their lives. Presenting things in this manner, The Virgin Suicides manages to be both poignant and touchingly nostalgic. Also, Coppola's style is such that she avoids turning the film into a sudsy melodrama that glamorizes self-destruction. One of The Virgin Suicides' strengths is its ability to effectively capture the nuances of teenage life during the '70s. Coppola gets all of the little things right: the awkwardness of a chaperoned boy/girl party, the thrill of first love, and the nervousness of the pre-dance ritual (in this case, the homecoming dance, not the prom). The film also boasts a solid soundtrack featuring a few songs that haven't been endlessly recycled in other, recent, set-in-the-'70s features. In one key scene, music provides a link between the Lisbon girls and the outside world - it becomes their only viable means of communication and free expression. Most of the cast is comprised of fresh faces, all of whom do solid jobs. The more recognizable names include Kirsten Dunst as Lux (the girl with the most visible role), James Woods (as the girls' father), and Kathleen Turner (as their mother). Josh Hartnett (last seen as the guy who loses the girl in Here On Earth), who is slowly building a reputation in Hollywood, plays heartthrob Trip Fontaine, whose poor treatment of Lux sets off a chain of events that leads to one of the movie's tragedies. The Virgin Suicides also includes excerpts from a modern-day interview with a forty-something Trip (played by Michael Pare), who clearly has regrets about his treatment of Lux. By using occasional bursts of humor and setting up the film as a collage of reminiscences, Coppola establishes a mood that is wistful and sad, but not funereal. There are a few instances when the film gets a little heavy handed, but, for the most part, the tone is well modulated. Although Coppola almost certainly gained more than a little help from her famous father in getting the production off the ground, the talent evident in her debut argues that this is not a case of unwarranted nepotism. The apple has not fallen far from the tree.
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20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
All mood and no bite, November 14, 2005
I remember reading lackluster reviews of "The Virgin Suicides" when it first came out, but many people have praised it profusely since then, so I expected to be pleasantly surprised when I recently gave it a first viewing. I was not. Here's the movie in a nutshell (mild spoilers):
Gauzy shots of striking blonde girls in 70's garb. They're very mysterious. The neighborhood boys are obsessed with these mysterious girls, who are sheltered by their overprotective parents. One of the girls, played by Kirsten Dunst, exhibits some personality and takes up with a young rogue played by Josh Hartnett. Besides the cool soundtrack, Hartnett is the only memorable part of the movie. The overprotective mother overreacts. The sisters remain mysterious. And so on.
At least with Sofia Coppola's second movie "Lost in Translation", there are a couple of fleshed-out characters and sort-of a plot to go along with the mood. In "Virgin Suicides", a pervasive atmosphere is established by long shots in soft lighting and wistful music, but there is very little else to chew on. I waited the whole movie for something interesting to happen. Some reviewers wrote that the movie isn't about the girls at all, but the boys' obsession with them and their lust for the unattainable, but the boys are also very loosely drawn. They're fascinated, and we're supposed to be too, but the girls have to BE fascinating -- it's not enough to just repeat that they're mysterious and keep showing them in slow takes.
I didn't even need an explanation or a tidy wrap-up -- if I see a movie like "Mulholland Drive", a film which also relies a lot on atmosphere and doesn't explain itself, I can at least walk out knowing I saw something interesting and perhaps profound. After "Virgin Suicides" I felt like I'd just watched a two-hour tampon commercial.
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