The Virgin Suicides (1999)
Kirsten Dunst, James Woods, Kathleen Turner, Josh Hartnett; d. Sofia Coppola; B

The name Sophia Coppola, before The Virgin Suicides, used to mean terrible things. Apparently, and I say apparently because I have not seen this film, she did a terrible performance in The Godfather III. Luckily she redeems herself and her name in this stunning directorial debut with her adaption of Jeffery Euginide's brilliant book The Virgin Suicides.

The Virign Suicides is a story about young love - Or young obsession, really. It is told through the eyes of men (represented by the single narriator, Giovanni Ribisi), looking back at a strange, mysterious, and haunting event that happened during their teenaged years in Michigan 1975. Then they were in love with the beautiful, yet untangible Lisbon sisterss: Cecilia (Hanna R. Hall), Lux (Kirsten Dunst), Therese (Leslie Hayman), Mary (AJ Cook), and Bonnie (Chelsie Swain). The girls are bolted down by their math-teacher father (James Woods), and strict mother (Kathleen Turner). However, when the youngest Lisbon sister, Cecilia, attepts suicide at the begenning of the movie, they are forced to come up with ideas in order to prevent this from happening again. The final answer is to let the girls socialize more, and by doing this the Lisbons throw their first, and last party. Some neighborhood boys are invited to the party, and of course one would think this is a dream come true considering that this is their chance to get close to, and know, the evasive Lisbon sisters, but their happiness is shattered when Cecilia, who did not fully participate in the party, commits suicide by jumping out of a window. This spells the downfall of the Lisbon sisters, as, one event to another (Including Lux Lisbon's short-lived love affair with the school hunk, Trip Fontaine, played brilliantly by Josh Harnett and Michael Pare), they are slowly removed from society and eventually from life itself.

After watching this movie, I'm almost confident that Coppola will have a successful career as a director. Directing runs in the family (Her father is, after all, the acclaimed Francis Ford Coppola and her husband is acclaimed music video director and Being John Malkovich director Spike Jonze), so this probably shouldn't come hard for her. Her script, thought flawed, is excellent and is a pratically word-for-word, scene-to-scene adaption of the book. However, if you have not read the book you might have a bit of trouble understanding some of the scenes. But still, you'll get the basic jist of it. The book's humor comes off better in film than it does on paper, and the story translates well to cinema. My only complaint is that we focused more on the girls instead of the boys who were telling the story. Some have also complained about the lack of focus on the deteriation of the Lisbon house, which I also think should have been included, but this is not as important at the boys.

The performances in this film are good, but not exactly great. I feel that Kirsten Dunst was a bit overrated by others for her performance. While she was good, she really wasn't totally believable as Lux, especially since she looks nothing like a 14 year old, and certainly doesn't act like it. Even though her appearence in the movie was rather short, Hanna R. Hall as Cecilia was much better. The best performance comes from Josh Hartnett as Trip Fontaine, very believable as a school hunk who loses his cool over Lux. Overall the cast isn't a very strong one, only a few noticable performances. If anything, the things that shine in this movie is its cinematography and score. One of my favorite bands, Air, composed the score, but unfortunatley most of what is on the album is not used in the film.

The Virgin Suicides is a good movie, if not a little flawed. I'd reccomend it, especially to those who've read the book.

© Vert A Go Go Reviews 2001