#920: COPPOLA, Sofia: The Virgin Suicides (1999)

COPPOLA, Sofia (United States)
The Virgin Suicides [1999]
Spine #920
Blu-ray

With this debut feature, Sofia Coppola announced her singular vision, exploring the aesthetics of femininity while illuminating the interior lives of young women. An adaptation of Jeffrey Eugenides's popular first novel, The Virgin Suicides conjures the ineffable melancholy of teenage longing and ennui in its story of the suicides of the five Lisbon sisters, stifled by the rules of their overprotective religious parents — as told through the collective memory of a group of men who were boys at the time and still yearn to understand what happened. Evoking its 1970s suburban setting through ethereal cinematography by Ed Lachman and an atompheric score by Air, the film secured a place for its director in the landscape of American independent cinema and has become a coming-of-age touchstone.

97 minutes

Color
5.1 Surround
1:66:1 aspect ratio

Criterion Release 2018

Director/Writers

Based upon the novel by Jeffrey Eugenides.

Sofia Coppola was 28 when she wrote and directed The Virgin Suicides.

The Film

A

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Twelve-page wraparound featuring an essay by novelist Megan Abbott.

Commentary

None.

Interviews

With Coppola, DP Ed Lachman, actors Dunst and Hartnett, author Gugenides, and writer Tavi Gevinson.

Documentary

Making of “The Virgin Suicides” from 1998 directed by Eleanor Coppola and featuring Sofia, Eleanor and Francis Coppola; actors Dunst, Hartnett, Glenn, Turner and Woods; Eugenides; and more.

1998 short film by Coppola

Lick the Star.

Music video

For Air’s soundtrack song “Playground Love,” directed by Coppola and her brother Roman.

Trailers

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

99

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