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List Price: $9.98 | | Label: Paramount
Salesrank: 4620
Released: December 19, 2000 |
| Our Price: $6.14 |
| Used Price: $2.60 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
In a quiet Michigan community in the mid-1970s, neighborhood boys try to piece together the lives of the five Lisbon sisters, kept isolated by their over-protective parents.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 9-AUG-2005
Media Type: DVD
Description of The Virgin Suicides:
Previously criticized for her marginal acting skills, Sofia Coppola made her directorial debut with The Virgin Suicides and silenced her detractors. No amount of coaching from her director father (Francis Coppola) or husband (Spike Jonze) could have guaranteed a film this assured, and in adapting Jeffrey Eugenides's novel, Coppola demonstrates the sensitivity and emotional depth that this material demands. Surely the pain of youth and public criticism found its way into her directorial voice; in the story of four sisters who self-destruct under the steady erosion of their youthful ideals, one can clearly sense Coppola's intimate connection to the inner lives of her characters.
Played in a delicate minor key, the film is heartbreaking, mysterious, and soulfully funny, set in a Michigan suburb of the mid-1970s but timeless and universal to anyone who's been a teenager. The four surviving Lisbon sisters lost a sibling to suicide, and as its title suggests, the film will chart their mutual course to oblivion under the vigilance of repressive parents (Kathleen Turner and James Woods, perfectly cast). But The Virgin Suicides is more concerned with life in that precious interlude of adolescence, when the Lisbon girls are worshipped by the neighborhood boys, their notion of perfection epitomized by Lux (Kirsten Dunst) and her storybook love for high-school stud Trip (Josh Hartnett). Unfolding at the cusp of innocence and sexual awakening, and recalled as a memory, The Virgin Suicides is, ultimately, about the preservation of the Lisbon sisters by their own deaths--suspended in time, polished to perfection, and forever untainted by adulthood. --Jeff Shannon
The Virgin Suicides Reviews:
I hate titles. 3 stars. 
2009-12-25 - December 25th, 2009
The Virgin Suicides is an alright movie that features some good 70s music and then some OK 70s music. It's somewhat of a moody affair and you might have to force yourself to watch it again some day but I think it's worth at least one watch.
It starts off with the character that plays 13-year old Cecilia trying to kill herself in the bathtub. Why? I'm still not sure. But she was my favorite character along with her 14-year old sister, Lux played by the oh-so-charming Kirsten Dunst (she looks much older than her character and has gone blond for the role).
The sisters live a fairly strict and fenced-in type of life and it only gets worse after Lux doesn't come home on time after the school dance.
A lot of things happen in this movie (right?) but I don't wanna spoil the whole plot.
I believe this is a PG-13 rated movie but it almost doesn't deserve that rating.
There is a bit of kissing, Kirsten's character quickly plays with the belt of a young boy's trousers in the film and during the football field scene, when the dance is taking place she grinds with the school "hottie". Oh, and there are scenes where people are shown dead. But they aren't gory mind you.
All in all, I think I'd give it a rent and watch it with a friend or two. You will either be half-intrigued or laugh your way through the movie, I'm not sure which one.
The theatrical trailer makes the movie seem like it's going to be really good, and well...it falls flat. But if you don't go in this with super-high expectations, you just may like it.
3 stars.
end note: I will probably watch this once more, but not alone; with a friend. I definitely don't think it's worth owning for me at least but it is somewhat entertaining (plus, he wants to see it so...).
Happy Holidays!
Conservative family kills daughters 
2009-09-29 - Or something to that effect. Another in the "American Beauty" camp of willfully narrow-minded views of middle America.
passable
2009-08-08 - This wasn't a particularly good movie. Much of the story was dry, uninteresting, and well, just *dry*.
Everything from the party in the beginning of the movie where the boys went over to the girls house, and neither the girls or boys were talking to each other at the party. This part was too long, but at least here it was building up to a suicide involving the youngest sister (of the five sisters).
The story continues the boredom aspect when the sisters eventually go to the high school prom with the guys. Again, boring boring boring. Overlong romantic scenes and nothing interesting about what was taking place.
You can probably guess what happens just by the name of the movie, and yeah, it was a sad ending, but it also was a shocking ending, and I don't really mean that as a compliment- the storyline did nothing in the way of building interest to the ending, so it was more like "Oh ok, so that was it?" when it was over.
At least the movie tried keeping my interest in a few spots, and the rock music that was included in the film focused on the mid to late 70's scene with KISS, Heart, and other bands.
I just couldn't see much appeal in this one I'm afraid.
Screw the Movie, Read the Book!
2009-03-10 - As soon as I heard the title, I was pining to see this movie. Alas, when it came out, I wasn't able to see it. So I researched it. When I found out it was based on a book, I got the book. I read it in two days, and decided it was my favorite novel (until a few years later when I read Requiem for a Dream). The book was so amazingly original. When I finally saw the film, I wanted sooooo bad to like it. I even convinced myself for a while that I did. The cinematography really was beautiful, but the actual script only had minor things I liked (little added touches with the parents that the book lacked). But when I watched the film again a few years later, I was mad. It was not nearly as clear as the book was (I think the first time I saw it I kind of filled myself in with my knowledge of the book). And honestly, it wasn't even half as interesting or intriguing as the book. When I saw it again, I was shocked at the great reviews.
I really didn't like Kirsten Dunst in this. Not bad acting, just a bad script. In the book, the character seemed more real to me, less dumb. I feel like the script just played up on a "hot" actress instead of focusing on real character development. Besides the cinematography, the film didn't add enough to the book to actually buy. I would rent it if you loved the book (just to see someone's take on it), but if you haven't, I can't imagine why you would be interested.
good movie! 
2008-11-25 - movie is very very close to the book....good job with keeping true to the book....i dislike when directors deviate too much from the book.....if you can read the book first, go for it, and then watch the movie.
