The Virgin Suicides

I had been meaning to see The Virgin Suicides since I first heard it was being released to film, based on its 1993 book by Jeffrey Eugenides. I never got around to it until the other night when I rented it on video.

Oh. My. God. This film was beautifully done with its easy-on-the-eyes cinematography, the shades of colours, the portrayal of seasons, the flawless actors (all of them), the way they moved & spoke.

As in the book, this film is told as a memory of a group of boys' fascination & obsession with the lives of a group of very blonde sisters.

It's not your typical formula film & includes a wondrous soundtrack, to say the least, with hypnotic contributions by Air. It still lingers in my mind - the true mark of a great film, in my eyes.

The book, the film, the soundtrack: I recommend them all.

A beautiful adaptation of a great novel.

It is the premises for this admirable work of sofia Coppola to reflect, in precise manner, the universe proposed by Jeffrey Eugenides. The faithfull portrait of characters, atmosphere, life in neighborhood is one of basic virtues.

The second good job remains the acting and the surprising way to define, from Josh Hartnett to Kirsten Dunst the complexity of age, the seduction and vulnerability and life like dream, preserving the ambiguity defining the story.

Not the last virtue is the intensity of emotion of reader of novel, rediscovering details and slices , accurate adaptated.

A film about loneliness, life of small comunity , a couple loving, in his way , cold and precise, their daughters and a form of vulnerability , not surprising for teens, but defining the perspective about life in cold manner.

I've searched for this movie more than two years, cause I've read the book and I do love it. It's one of the most beautiful stories about teenagers that had ever been written. The suicides of these five beautiful girls aren't to be taken seriously, it's a metaphor the author uses. He wants so write about the strange and often really terrible feelings teenagers have. And Sofia Coppola created an atmosphere I can't describe. Just as a light wind on a hot summer day, if you know what I mean. She's really one of the greatest young directors (especially female) of our time. "Lost in Translation" is a masterpiece as well. The actors were good, Kirsten Dunst is such a great actress, she should do more movies like "The Virgin Suicides", where she really has to act. Josh Harnett is wonderful as Trip and the girls who play Therese, Mary, Bonnie and Cecilia, are great discoveries. If you like films with depth, films you have to think about, this one here is remarkable for you. Please, watch it and immerse in the world of the Lisbon girls and the boys next door.

P.s.: I hope I didn't make too much mistakes. :)

"The Virgin Suicides" is a touching, artistic film which transforms you through various stages of grief to realize what you already knew all along - Suicide is pointless. The film focuses on the lives of five teenage sisters from the perspective of the teenage boys who adore them. It's warm, funny, and totally engaging…not to mention a soundtrack to die for! There are incredible moments of cinematography - images that burn like when mother Kathleen Turner insists that her daughter, Kirsten Dunst burn her rock albums, Kiss, Aerosmith….the overwhelming stench and smoke billows out the doorway behind her when Kathleen throws the rest in the trash…and without a flinch she re-enters the billowing doorway. Only a few rocky transitions between scenes catch you by surprise and pull you out of Sophia's incredible imagination and back to your theatre seat. With wonderful performances by Kathleen Turner, Kirsten Dunst, James Woods and the rest and powerful directing by Sophia Coppola…you're left wondering as any friend or parent would - "why?" "Didn't they know we loved them?"

A strange, surreal flight-of-fancy of death and love, remembrance and how romanticized our memories become. It's also very funny, tending to mix the black comedy of something like "Heathers" with the stifling suburban scenario of "American Beauty" (but it's better than both). Kirsten Dunst is fantastic as the foxiest of five golden-toned sisters in the mid-'70s who feel trapped by their parents (a peculiar, but not overly monstrous couple), trapped by their feelings, trapped by time. They can breathe--and live freely--only in their fantasies (and perhaps in death), but do their realities represent a prison? It's the talent of writer-director Sofia Coppola not to push everything over-the-top; she's careful, she leaves the viewer contemplating the characters' motivations and actions. The situation is indeed unexplainable, yet it is in our nature to expect a resolution, to expect concrete evidence as to WHY and demand an answer. Yet there are no answers to the sadness of the strangers who live across the street, even as we pass through their lives and through their houses. "The Virgin Suicides" offers fascinating food for thought. *** from ****