Written by: Sofia Coppola
Starring: James Woods, AJ Cook, Kathleen Turner, Kirsten Dunst, Josh Hartnett, Scott Glenn
Rating: [4/5]
Trying to raise teenagers comes with a whole host of challenges in trying to help them healthily balance their hormones and desires. An approach that takes plenty of patience and understanding that religiously fundamentalist parents prove to lack, especially when it comes to their teenage girls. It makes for an overcorrection that leads to catastrophe as ominously alluded to in The Virgin Suicides in the way it depicts this horrific set of events through this dreamlike aesthetic displaying Sofia Coppola as a stunning filmmaker.
In a quiet suburban neighborhood, a group of teenage boys become obsessed with the quartet of Lisbon sisters who do not interact with others socially because of their strict parents. They seek to get their attention constantly as these girls try to achieve some level of normality of freedom within their adolescent years.
Telling the stories of these young girls through the lens of the teenage boys trying to pursue them certainly feels like quite the choice as an approach. A move that somewhat takes away from the autonomy of the very girls who serve as the subjects of this feature. However, when looking at the overall idea of this film, it makes complete sense considering these girls never had autonomy in their lives at any point and the lack of accessibility of them only further cements this isolation they felt when locked away in their house. They sit as prisoners under the guise of protection by their parents, which puts the audience in the same perspective as these teenage boys where we just observe them rather than get a full picture of their personality with intention.
The moments we do receive with these sisters we see the restrictive lifestyles they live and with each mess up, things only get tighter for them. This occurring in a deeply religious household comes as no surprise, especially in a home of all girls. We see this extreme restrictiveness and control placed upon these girls where it becomes a massive deterrent in their lives. It even gets to the point where a psychologist recommends the girls receive time with other individuals as a way of healthy living for them. Having to explicitly state this to parents only further heightens the real problems going on here, which sets the stage.
On a visual level, this film is told through such a dreamy lens done exceptionally well by Edward Lachman. From the scenes on the football field to the finale, he manages to capture this breakdown of what it means to live as these girls where any sense of normalcy feels like a dream they never wish to wake from. In these moments of freedom where they do get to express themselves, the film evokes this feeling of otherworldliness that only further speaks to their lack of normalcy. Being able to go to something as innocuous as Homecoming says it all when it proves evident it means such a big deal for them.
With this serving as Sofia Coppola’s debut, it well and truly displays her incredible talent, and her distinct ability to capture a feeling of loneliness for girls that no other filmmaker can touch. She evokes this feeling in her feature directorial debut and it proves evident in several of her other films where it typically focuses on a single woman. In this feature, we see this through his group of sisters who wish to develop at least a sliver of freedom from the restrictive lifestyle of their parents where they get relegated to feeling like caged birds that leave others wondering about them rather than actually knowing them. A truly astounding phenomenon built in this feature shows Coppola knows how to tell an effectively moody piece and it mightily impresses, no doubt.
Utterly stirring as a debut and quite the introduction to many of the strong actors this feature has to offer, The Virgin Suicides pulls this tug of war of control and adoration of these girls that leave them right in the middle. They want a sense of freedom but without the fear of what it means with their parents, who wish to protect them but instead make them fascinated through their complete lack of presence in any social circle. It all mixes together to tell quite the cautionary tale but also deeply impactful display in the way ideas further manifest into perception. Something that certainly plays into the mind of these young girls, but also the audience as we take in everything this feature has to offer and the inherent loneliness these girls feel even when having each other and their parents. A deeply melancholic film from beginning to end, which allows those small moments of magic where these girls get to feel even a glimmer of the teenage girl experience all the more impactful.
Films with Josh 
