The Virgin Suicides (1999)

It is utterly amazing that a film can be so immensely powerful when its ending is revealed in the first words of it. But "The Virgin Suicides" is one of the most moving filmwatching experiences I've ever had. It tells the tragic story of five teenage sisters in 1974 Michigan who all commit suicide, told through the memories of one man who was obsessed with them. He is not identified in his narration, but speaks in reference to himself and three other boys who felt a love for the girls that grew not out of romance, but out of the fascination they had with the mysteries that were the girls' lives.

The sisters are all daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon (James Woods and Kathleen Turner) who run a strict, conservative household wherein the daughters are more or less never allowed social lives. The film opens with an unsuccessful suicide attempt by the youngest daughter, 13-year-old Cecilia (Hanna Hall), and is followed closely afterward by a successful attempt.

So now there were four. The remaining sisters were 14-year-old Lux (Kirsten Dunst), 15-year-old Bonnie (Chelse Swain), 16-year-old Mary (A.J. Cook), and 17-year-old Therese (Leslie Hayman). Not terribly long after Cecilia's death, Lux is asked to the Prom by school heartthrob Trip Fontaine (Josh Hartnett). Mr. Lisbon isn't sure about it, but agrees to it providing Trip finds three other guys to take the other Lisbon girls out. And so they all go to the Prom, where they all have a wonderful time. That is until the morning, when Lux (who was named Prom Queen) awakens alone on the football field after sleeping with Trip (though it's hard to tell whether or not they actually slept together; remember, "The Virgin Suicides").

As a result of Lux's failure to even come close to making curfew, the Lisbon girls are taken out of school and kept shut up inside the house. The obsessive boys communicate with them through Morse Code and playing records over the phone. The boys desperately want to help them, believing that they've learned what it's like to be a girl through reading Cecilia's journal. They don't understand the girls, but they want to. They see the girls as perfect, and so they wonder why one of them would want to take her own life. They are fascinated by the mysteries that surround the girls' very beings. The narrator remembers that he and all the boys loved all the Lisbon girls. How else could he explain their feelings towards them?

Sofia Coppola is, of course, the daughter of the great director Francis Ford Coppola ("The Godfather," "Apocalypse Now"). "The Virgin Suicides" is a movie that shows us that sometimes the gift of great filmmaking can be trasmitted through the genes. Coppola (the younger one) has made a masterpiece here, and while it is not exactly "The Godfather" or "The Conversation," it is still a very beautiful, seductive, powerful, and important film.

As tragic as "The Virgin Suicides" is, it has its share of humor. To lighten the mood every once in a while, Coppola throws in little one liners and strange characters. For instance, there is a kid named Domenic Palazzolo (Joe Dinicol) who is so upset when his dream girl goes on vacation in Switzerland that he denounces God and jumps off the roof of his house, then proceeds to stand right up and walk away. There are also some nice little moments involving Mr. Lisbon. One of the film's funniest lines is said when Mr. Lisbon asks of his plants, "Have we photosynthesized our breakfast today?"

However, the drama in "The Virgin Suicides" is what makes it unforgettable. We are able to feel the desperation of the four boys. We are able to feel the bleak sense of nothingness that fills the lives of the remaining Lisbon girls. And in the end, all that is left is the hopelessness captured in the voice of the film's narrator, as he explains in his final monologue how the girls will never be able to hear the boys calling for them.

Back to Filmdog

Copyright © 2002 Fishdog Fisher