The Virgin Suicides (1999)
Also known as "Sofia Coppola's the Virgin Suicides"
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Starring: James Woods, Kathleen Turner, Kirsten Dunst, Josh Hartnett, Michael Paré, Scott Glenn, Danny De Vito, A.J. Cook, Hanna R. Hall, Leslie Hayman, Chelse Swain, Anthony DeSimone, Lee Kagan, Robert Schwartzman, Noah Shebib, Hayden Christensen, Giovanni Ribisi
Director: Sofia Coppola
Running Time: 97 minutes
US MPAA rating: RUK BBFC rating: 15
Drama, Mystery
On DVD I've been wasting my time thinking of ways to review 'The Virgin Suicides' without giving the ending away. Why is that a waste of time? Well, because the ending is already given away by the title. So the real question debutant director Sofia Coppola clearly wants us to ask ourselves during and after watching this thoughtful drama is not "what happened?", but "why?".
Basing her screenplay on the Jeffrey Eugenides novel of the same name, Francis Ford's best-known daughter brings us the story of five teenage sisters and their angsty adolescence in mid-70s Michigan. There's 13-year-old Cecilia (Hanna Hall), 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). Following the suicide of Cecilia, their parents (James Woods and Kathleen Turner) take an understandable turn for the wacky and grow ridiculously over-protective of the remaining girls. It's still not enough, though, to prevent further heartache in the family.
Presented, as it is, from the perspective of Giovanni Ribisi's lovelorn voiceover, the film keeps a certain distance between the viewer and the girls. As a result it's sensitive and nostalgic, but also difficult to truly understand what makes the girls tick. There are some fine performances on show - most notably from young Dunst as the most rebellious of the gals - but none of the characters are really as well-developed as Coppola obviously wants them to be. I also found the ending to be just that little bit too far-fetched to be considered truly tragic.
Still, it's an engrossing piece of film, containing some nice moments of comic relief and a welcome favouring of realism over melodrama - an approach which would later pay even greater dividends for Coppola in her next movie, 2003's Oscar-winning
DVD Extras: Pah! Just a trailer. Version reviewed: The Virgin Suicides
It's Got: A blink-and-you'll-miss-him appearance from a young Hayden "Anakin Skywalker" Christensen.
It Needs: Not that I'm going to kill myself over it or anything, but a decent range of DVD extras might have been nice.
Alternatives: Thirteen, Kids, Ghost World
Summary: A sign of better things to come as Sofia Coppola loses her directorial virginity with this sad, absorbing adaptation.
Review by Gary Panton
Review Date: 6th June 2005
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External Links
The Virgin Suicides at the IMDB
