Review of The Virgin Suicides (2000) by Mike P — 26 Sep 2010

I may be overrating this a tad, but honestly, after watching "Marie Antoinette" (also by Sofia Coppola), I'm sure that this excellently-made debut by the same director is her masterpiece. I haven't seen "Lost in Translation" yet, so this is not set in stone. However, compared to a lot of the films I have seen, this easily snuck into my top 100.

So, this film is primarily about the clash between journalistic sensationalism, free love, religion, and holding on to what you desire. Four boys, who serve as the voice of the film, take a strong liking for the preppy, neat, and secretly-promiscuous Lisbon girls - who are held back by their parents: a somewhat liberal father (James Woods) and the Jesus freak mother (Kathleen Turner). The girls start to get attention when one of their kind, Cecilia, impales herself on a metal fence - they start to desire love (possibly because Cecilia was a virgin). Enter in the school heartthrob. This opens up the girls' possibilities - while eventually sheltering them from rock music and the outside world. The media blows their attempts to save their memories out of proportion - and the girls die, as expected from the title.

However, this film is not a full-on melodrama about teenage girls killing themselves for no reason. No - Sofia Coppola wrote a black comedy about dealing with your emotions in the 1970s, set to the soundtrack of Air (hidden as orchestral score) and diagetic tracks from 10cc, Styx, and Heart. As with her films, her costume and set design is consistent throughout - everything seems archaic, but not to the point of "Boogie Nights". There's even a gay character to add in the mix that the '70s isn't exactly the era of black crime fighters, extremely artistic porn, and Aerosmith (though, if this film takes place in 1974, "Rocks" shouldn't be out - an intentional mistake of sorts).

Would I recommend this? Yes - the sex isn't as extreme as one might think (in fact, you don't even see penetration or nudity), the language is non-existent in this film, and the suicides, while disturbing, are not extremely bloody. I would recommend this film to anybody 13 and older - it's not called "The Virgin Suicides" for nothing.