Review of The Virgin Suicides (2000) by Robin T — 19 May 2010

The first time I saw this movie, about ten years ago now, I considered it to be a lukewarm bowl of hipster kitsch. I was wrong. Not that it doesn't contain an element of that- it seems to be unavoidable with "period" movies set in a decade just out of reach of its audience's memories. I've changed my mind- it works for this particular film. If The Virgin Suicides were to be set in the late 1990's, the movie would have more to do with Child Protective Services than the real theme of the movie.. That is to say, American cultural norms have changed enough in the 20 something years separating the film's setting and release date that the premise of its narrative would pupate into a gross oddity if set in more modern times.

As you may have guessed, I recently watched The Virgin Suicides again. Before I was blinded by what I thought was kitsch, too much so to see the theme of the movie. Impotent isolation. I say "impotent" because of the sexualization of the sisters in the movie by the boys- who view the girls more as a white whale to be harpooned than individuals who are slowly slipping into psychic slumber [assonance happens]. This impotent isolation is an aspect of the sisters and the boys. Girls that take control of their destiny in the best way they think they know, boys that (may or may not) be damaged by this and act out inappropriately. Oh well. There's that tired saying about youth being wasted on the young... But seeing this movie makes me remember too many small cruelties and transgressions of youth to wish it on anyone. Not to say that this movie is "about" the cruelty of youth, but it simply couldn't take place in the world of adults.

All in all, it's a good- if a little bit depressing- movie that should be re-visited. I would have given it another half star, but the hipster kitsch thing has made my will to click with my mouse go away.