Overview
The Virgin Suicides began as a work of a novel by Jeffrey Eugenides which later was adapted to a movie by Sofia Coppola in the year of 1999. The movie was a first for the director. The movie closely relates to the novel, but uses techniques of surreal, imagined imagery, and unearthly ambiances to develop a style. One which transcends other related coming of age films.
The film illustrates a beautifully composed yet pain-stakingly somber ballet conducted in Michigans suburbs. The Lisabon sisters are the focus of the film, while a seize of a particular group of boys narrate the tale. The boys portray a sense of perverse enchantment and voyeurism toward the sisters which touches on an overlying theme of repression the film possesses. The film in a way focuses less on the sisters but more on the boys recollection of the dreamy memories of teenage purity.
The Virgin Suicides is a contemplative and deeply sad film, shrouding the audience in a tender yet haunting age of reveries. The movie grapples with the bittersweet age of adolescence and the ghostly silence that lies between separation and connection.
Plot Summary
Life in the suburbs depicted at the very start of the movie is calm and soothing but with the absence of any changes and colour, everything seems stale and idyllic. That is, until tragedy with the youngest sister, wished, which ends up shattering the calm silence of the community in question.
The Lisbon family have five daughters ,Cecilia, Lux, Bonnie, Mary and Therese. Their parents, Mr and Mrs Lisbon, have a silent and Conservative approach, but have a non flexible set of rules that shape the girls’ lives. The neighbuorhood boys, from a distance, try to put the pieces together and become more captivated by the girl’s quiet and elegant demeanor.
The film traces the events of a year in which the Lisbon sisters become the center of the boys’ attention. After the first tragedy, the parents become overly protective as the girls’ social activities become even more limited and boundaries more tightly enforced. The boys, however, manage to approach the girls, even succeeding to invite them to a school dance where the more socially active sister, Lux, engages with the ever so popular Trip Fontaine.
For a short time, the girls’ lives are more optimistic as they are given the privilege of attending the dance. The world of the girls opens up longer and more boundless. Unfortunately, they are met with a more action than inaction outcome, with the sisters due to a multitude of growing isolation and consecutive misunderstandings, are brought back to a lifestyle filled with seclusion.
The viewpoint of the boys who continue to observe the household, listen, and recall the past, portrays the slow disintegration of the Lisbon family for the rest of the film. The boys, now matured, ponder the past as the years Ralph lift. It dawns on them that the sisters Lisbon, much to their obsession, were never known to them. The lingering absence of the answer to the question of what is beautiful and fragile is the answer to the question that is never forgetting.
Main Characters
The eldest and most extroverted of the sisters, Lux Lisbon, is played by Kirsten Dunst. Lux possesses a charm that is not only reserved for the boys, but also to the rest of the people around her. She is the embodiment of the vast and convoluted paradoxes of adolescence, since she is both tremendously bold and shrouded in an elusive cloud of mystery.
Cecilia Lisbon, played by Hanna R. Hall, is the youngest sister. The tone for the rest of the film is influenced by her early fate. Soft-spoken and shy, Cecilia, is a delicate, benign figure and, in her own right, a symbol of the many and often painful trials and tribulations of childhood and adolescence.
The boys perceive the remaining three sisters as an undifferentiated mass, although each of the sisters Mary, Bonnie, and Therese Lisbon is distinctive in character. Though their traits are more vague, their personalities add to the thick veil of enigma that surrounds the sisters.
Mr. & Mrs. Lisbon (James Woods & Kathleen Turner): The father and mother. Mr. Lisbon is a kind and a gentle teacher. Lisbon is more strict and protective. In a misguided attempt to protect their daughters, the parents remove all emotional connection from the relationship.
Trip Fontaine (Josh Hartnett): An attractive and self-assured high school that has a relationship with Lux. His role brings a touch of tangible high school experience to a film that is otherwise ethereal.
The Narrators (Voiced by Giovanni Ribisi): A collection of school boys who remember the sisters and talk about their. The boys reminisce, painting the past with a deep sense of awe, almost wishing to reclaim the elusive, never grasped memories.
Thematical concerns of
- The enigma of growing up.
The movie illustrates the bewildering yet poignant rush of emotions along with the desire to be free that accompanies growing up. The Lisbon girls, seemingly caught between the two extremes of childhood and adulthood, get a glimpse of this transition from the boys in the neighborhood who, more often than not, tend to be lost in a daze.
- Memory and Imagination
The story is not recounted in real time but instead recalled by the storytellers. This fosters a sense that everything is a bit hazy and romanticized. They only vaguely “remember” the girls. Therefore, the narrators portray not only the sisters but their own desire and confusion as well.
- The Limitations of Protection
In the name of protecting their daughters, the Lisbon parents exercise an extreme form of control and seclusion. While their intentions are rooted in care, the absence of understanding and autonomy fosters negative outcomes. The film demonstrates that too much control can breed distance as opposed to protection.
- Unspoken Feelings
A lot of the film’s emotion comes from the sisters not only struggling to communicate with each other but with the boys as well. This film’s sorrow stems from a abstract lack of dialogue as the most important form of communication.**: Style and Direction
The touch that Coppola has when directing the movies is very delicate and gives the film almost a dreamy state. The palette is soft and muted, the lens floats sensuously, and the score (featuring Air) accentuates the yearning tone. Each moment feels as if it’s extracted, delicately, from a faraway dream — indistinct, but intensely rememerable.
While some directors may prioritize the story, Coppola embraces the feeling and atmosphere, often providing a tale that is reflective, using a wealth of light, as well as imagery, to aid the words that actors refrain from expressing.
Reception
The Virgin Suicides was critically acclaimed for the unique layer within the style, emotional complexity, and direction being strong for a first film. Sofia Coppola was considered to have a unique perspective and voice for a first film, and the same appreciation was passed to Kirsten Dunst for the performance she gave, showcasing a pivotal moment for her career.
The film may have not have been the most successful on a financial level, however, it has attained a cult following has considered the film a modern classic. For many, it is looked back upon in admiration for the emotional and artistic prowess it possessed. Like many, it is taught and studied in film classes for all the admiration it has.
Taking Everything Into Consideration
The Virgin Suicides certainly is an unusual sort of drama. It is contemplative and silent with an emphasis on the ephemerality of emotion in the formative years, the spaces between people, and how the past is molded by the distortions of memory. It does not provide answers; instead, it nudges the audience towards their own experiences of growing, musing, and not knowing.
The movie has an underlying sense of sadness that is crafted in such a way that it draws on artistic imagination. It also contains dream-like beauty that only comes when a person’s life is looked at from the angle of reminiscence and their cognitive faculties are working. The Virgin Suicides is highly recommended for people who appreciate watching thoughtful films rather than those that are blatant with the plot.
Watch Free Movies on Onionplay