Review of The Virgin Suicides (2000) by Sonya C — 28 Mar 2009

U can call The virgin suicides a very irresponsible film coz it doesnt tell u anything about the psyche of children with suiciding tendencies nor does it offer a hope ; but dat would be totally ignoring the fact that the sole agenda of this film was to recreate a novel released in the same year and talks more about the impact of the suicides of the five girls on a bunch of neighbourhood boys in particular and the whole comunity in general.

Directed by Sofia Coppola, the movie stars Kirsten Dunst and Josh Hartnett and a bunch of other girls and boys and the Lisbon couples.Sofia Coppola does live up to her famous surname and does enough to keep the critics interested for her next offering;although I wouldnt really say that she has arrived; she plays it safe by sticking to the narrative style adapted in a novel that was not that difficult to adapt.

Rather it was clear to see that had it not been for the narrative adopted in the movie it would have reduced to a news event talking about the death of the Lisbon Girls.But the adaptation of the novel was very complete in its every sense and the narrative was spellbinding and kept the viewer engaged.

Infact that was what was the real winner in the movie more than the characters coz the characters like any character in a suicidal frame of mind appeared listless and lost. Kirsten Dunst's promiscuous turn as Lux Lisbon was the most standout of all coz she was the one whose character showed any degradation at all from a normal teenager just discovering her sexuality to someone losing her mind n then taking her own life.

For that matter evern her passage appeared vague and was left fr the viewer to guess. The other girls always looked more likely to take their lives whenever they wished.James Woods and Kathleen Turner's role as the hapless parents of the five girls was the most well written roles and the best acted as well with both parents at a loss of any idea as to why their daughters were trying to end their lives.

I caught a look in their eyes midway through the movie suggesting that they knew that inevitably all of them are going to take their lives and that they would hence maintain status quo and continue to isolate and strictly monitor the activities of the girls.

In the end the movie certainly does not offer a solution to the suicide problem which plagues a lot of teenagers then and today and not even talks about their causes but just goes out and shows one particular case of how such an incident can leave a life-long impact on the people around.