revisiting the virgin suicides (sofia coppola, 1999)
Sunday, August 14, 2022
In 2011, I wrote:
It’s an interesting movie, and I liked it a lot, as I did Lost in Translation, which makes Marie Antoinette all the more disappointing. Phil Dellio was reminded in a way of Dazed and Confused, but my comparison would be Heathers. Heathers is more smart-ass than The Virgin Suicides, and wonderfully mean-spirited. Yet I think I liked The Virgin Suicides more. The tale is told from the point of view of a man looking back on life as a boy, yet Coppola does a terrific job of turning the idealized girls into real people, and gives us at least as much insight into their lives as to the boys. Of course, all the insight in the world isn’t going to explain the events noted in the film’s title. Coppola offers a fine blend of the real and the slightly surreal, and does a great job with the soundtrack.
I question my use of the word "like" in the above. I might think The Virgin Suicides is "better" than Heathers, but the truth is, I like Heathers a lot more, and have re-watched it several times. I agree with the rest of what I said in 2011. The Virgin Suicides was Sofia Coppola's feature directorial debut. The cast is interesting. Kirsten Dunst is a standout, of course. The film was one of the first for Josh Hartnett. You can get a hint of why the sisters had a difficult life when you note that their parents are played by James Woods and Kathleen Turner. Danny DeVito has a cameo as a shrink, who is part of the most quotable moment in the film, when he asks one of the sisters why she is in the hospital after a suicide attempt ... "You're not even old enough to know how bad life gets." To which she replies, "Obviously, Doctor, you've never been a 13-year-old girl." It's right up there with Winona Ryder in Heathers writing, "Dear Diary, my teen-angst bullshit now has a body count."