The Virgin Suicides

***Artistic, profound, amusing, tragic, haunting coming-of-age in the 70s***

A 13 year-old girl from a Catholic family in a Detroit suburb commits suicide during the late 70s and its effects are shown over the course of the next year in the lives of her four sisters (e.g. Kirsten Dunst), her parents (James Woods & Kathleen Turner) and the boys of the community. Josh Hartnett is on hand as the school stud who’s interested in Lux (Dunst).

"The Virgin Suicides" (1999) was Sofia Coppola’s debut film based on the book by Jeffrey Eugenides; she would go on to great success with “Lost in Translation” (2003) and the underrated “Marie Antoinette” (2006). To be expected, Sofia’s style is similar to her father, as well as Peter Weir, but maybe more focused on feminine themes. The tone of the movie is artsy and deep, but not without a sense of humor. It’s haunting, mysterious, beautiful and impenetrable, reminiscent of Weir’s “Picnic at Hanging Rock” (1975). There’s also a great 70’s soundtrack featuring well-placed songs by The Hollies, Heart, Styx, Todd Rundgren and 10cc.

The subtext on parental legalism brings to mind “Footloose” (1984), but it’s clear that the blame can’t be placed solely at the feet of the parents, who are certainly overprotective but also clearly loving to a degree. Cecilia’s rash actions are the catalyst and the domino effect comes into play coupled with the oppression of stifling legalism and perhaps passive revenge. At the end of the day, though, it comes down to just a stupid decision by teenagers. Yet the movie’s about way more than suicide and its causes. It’s about coming-of-age, seeking identity & a voice, coming-of-death and the haunting reflections of those that remain.

The film runs 1 hour, 37 minutes and was shot in Toronto.

GRADE: A-/B+

Set amidst 1970s Detroit suburbia, this follows the ultimately tragic lives of five sisters who live with their teacher father (James Woods) and rather possessive mother (Kathleen Turner). It's narrated by one of their neighbours, a youth whom - along with his friends - has a bit of a crush on the girls. Disaster strikes early on when "Cecilia" manages to impale herself on the garden fence and what now ensues follows the family's quirkily poignant and entertaining evolution from this event. Things eventually come to an head when the girls plead with their parents to be allowed to go to a school dance whereupon "Lux" (Kirsten Dunst) and her all-American boyfriend "Trip" (Josh Hartnett) do the deed! Arriving home late, and alone, this causes ructions within the family and drives the young girl off the rails with ghastly consequences. There's a lot of nuance here. The performances from Turner, Dunst and a rather under-stated one from an increasingly effective Woods all help build this to a conclusion that is sadly, in my view, all a bit rushed. The effects of the isolation and loneliness on the all-but-incarcerated girls is there for us to see, but not really to appreciate fully enough and I felt that a shame. There is also quite a potent aesthetic here - the visuals offer us a subtle reinforcement of stereotype, ageing, maturity, comedy and indifference and I could have done with some meat on the bones of the actual story, the film gets better after each viewing.