Review of The Virgin Suicides (2000) by Avant G — 21 Jan 2012

I was expecting much more from this movie. Sofia Coppola's movies are always beautiful in terms of photography. However, it always seems to me that something is missing. And some, let's say, "teen elements" seemed too silly to me.

The Lisbon girls all end up committing suicide. There seems to be a strong connection between how they are being raised and this sad outcome. Their mother is presented as a castrating presence that confines the girls to an artificial, burdensome, lonely and joyless existence. Lux's story made me particularly sad. It seems to me that she is the most reckless not only because it hangs over her the suffocating miasma of severe parental constraints but also because of her disillusionment with the outside world (personified by Trip). At least, that is my interpretation.