Recommended Movie: “The Virgin Suicides”
The virgins of Sofia
Throughout my life as a cinephile, I have discovered that a movie can be-and usually is-rated by the taste of the viewer. Although being a personal vision, there are the movies that we love, the ones we hate, and the ones where we remain in doubt about what we feel. It is perhaps not by chance that the latter are usually the ones that most elicit reflextions on its content. It is in this group that I put “The Virgin Suicides” (USA, 1999), debut film of the director Sofia Coppola, based on the homonym novel of Jeffrey Eugenides. It is a movie that deals with conservatism, repression, honor, disillusionment and death, among other things.
The plot has nothing abnormal, except for the exceptionality of the tragedy portrayed therein: the collective suicide of five girls of the same family, between thirteen and seventeen. The facts are shown through the confuse perspective of teens neighbors of the girls. As they are the narrators, from the beginning it is admitted that there is no plausible explanation. In fact, the reasons for the tragedy are exposed so that the viewer can firm his own judgment.
The narration begins with the suicide attempt of the youngest of the five Lisbon sisters. The girl cuts her wrists in the bathroom and is saved by the voyeurism of one of the boys in the neighborhood. When asked by the therapist, she replies that no man will ever know what it is to be a woman at thirteen. This is how the director, who is also responsible for the script, opens up the small world she describes.
The Lisbon family consists of the father (James Woods), an alienated mathematics teacher, the mother (Kathleen Turner), an extreme Catholic, and five daughters. The girls had never gone out with boys, even the older ones. At the recommendation of the therapist, the family decides to have a party at home, which ends with a new attempt of suicide of the girl, this time successful.
After the tragedy, the family gradually returns to normal life. The hotshot boy of school, Trip Fontaine (Josh Harnett), used to being flattered by all women, feels challenged by being ignored by the beautiful Lux Lisbon (Kirsten Dunst). Determined to conquer her, Trip uses all his charm with the family, and manages to take Lux to the ball of the school. For this, he gatherr three colleagues to accompany the other sisters.
In the best shithead style, Trip seduces Lux and leaves her in the party, unleashing the fury of the angry Mother Lisbon. Transforming the house into a prison, the mother prevents her daughters from even attending school, forcing Lux to destroy all the rock records and accelerating the process of self-destruction of the family.
In an attempt to help the girls, the boys in the neighborhood set up on the phone a musical dialogue of a touching beauty (in fact, the soundtrack of the French Air group is magnificent). Lux transforms herself radically. From an innocent little girl she becomes the neighborhood bitch, having sex even on the roof. The disruption of the girls culminates in the collective death of all. The parents say they have no idea what motivated them and believe that it is not their fault.
“The Virgin Suicides” points to a problem that is part of the American reality: juvenile suicide. This tragedy is also common in Eastern cultures, particularly in Japan. Although both suffer from the same useless loss of life, in Japan suicide is part of culture, and it is considered a worthy solution to maintaining the honor of the individual and the family.
On the other hand, in the West, it is simply the bottom of the pit, the result of the hopelessness of a society that has no future to offerto its youth. To give an idea of the American tragedy, recent statistics show that one in five young people has already tried suicide. What is the future of a nation with such reality? According to the World Health Organization, 800,000 people commit suicide every year. And for every fatal case there are at least 20 other unsuccessful attempts.
Besides the excellent reconstruction of the time, the film is based on the four central figures of the cast. James Woods plays perfectly the demented father, who lives immersed in mathematical equations, talking to flowers and ignoring his daughters, leaving them under the responsibility of his mother. The mother is played by an almost unrecognizable, fat, ugly and irascible Kathleen Turner, very very far from the sexy girl of “Body Heat” and “Romancing the Stone”.
The young couple is also impeccable. Kirsten Dunst, the little girl from “Interview with the Vampire” builds a character who mixes the purest innocence with a sensuality on edge. Josh Hartnett recreates the badboy that leads the Lisbon family to destruction.
In her directorial debut, Sofia counted on the advice of the father, but surprised the industry, writing the script, and convincing the producers to make the film. If we take into account the little commercial appeal of the film, we see that it was a great achievement.
The Latin DVD and Bluray edition is well done, with widescreen format, English Dolby Digital 5.1 audio, Portuguese and Spanish, subtitles in Portuguese, English and Spanish and various extras. In addition to the movie trailer, there is a photo gallery, a music video and a small documentary subtitled in Portuguese, behind the scenes of production.
The movie “The Virgin Suicides” escapes from the commercial pattern we are used to, especially the popular high school comedies. It is a beautiful but melancholic movie, where the destiny of the characters is already known beforehand. However, it is a beautiful cinema exercise and it raises delicate questions about how we martyr the people we love the most. Watch it with an open heart.
Original Title: “The Virgin Suicides”