The Virgin Suicides (1999)

“Those girls have a bright future ahead of them. The other one was just going to end up a kook.”

            There are a lot of things that drive me insane in this world: senior citizens, living at home still at twenty-seven just to name two. One of the things that drive me up the wall the most are ignorant super religious people. Now before anyone goes hating on me and leaving nasty comments let me say this: I am Catholic I was brought up going to church every Sunday and went to CCD. I do believe in God and all that but I am not super religious. I never really have been. I do not go to church every Sunday and have not for the past eight years. I am tolerant of all religions and the people who believe in them. The only time I cannot tolerate followers is when they are incredibly ignorant and try to force their religion onto other people. I hate it when parents are a combination of religious and strict. I feel terrible for their children.

            Usually when there is a movie where the parents are religious and run a strict household I do not even give it the time of day. But I did give the time of day to the 1999 movie The Virgin Suicides which deals with the topic I loathe.

            The Lisbon sisters- Lux, Mary, Therese, Cecilia, and Bonnie- have been brought up in a strict religious household by their parents. They are allowed to go to school but immediately upon coming home are shut up in the house. They do not really have any friends and no one is allowed to come over. The youngest sister Cecilia has tried to kill herself twice. Her therapist suggests to Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon that she be around boys her own age and to let her have some fun. They let a couple of the neighbor hood boys come over but not for one second do they leave their daughters alone with them. Cecilia decides she has had enough of the party and goes upstairs. Soon her father finds her lifeless body impaled on a spike on a fence in the front yard.

            After Cecilia’s death the Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon are even more protective of their remaining daughters. They rarely go out or have communication with anyone. The only time they can do anything is when they are at school. Lux (Kirsten Dunst) is the biggest tease. All the guys worship the ground she walks on and she constantly flirts with whoever is willing to come near her. Mary, Therese, and Bonnie are also the objects of desire throughout the school. Lux begins to see the hot guy in the school Trip Fontaine (John Hartnett). He and the girls convince their parents to let them go to prom. The sisters have a fantastic time smoking and drinking and dancing and being around kids their own age for an entire night. Trip takes Lux to the football field. They fall asleep and for some reason he later cannot explain he just leaves Lux there. Trip really loved her and has never forgotten about her and to the present day still does not know why he left her there.

            Because their parents were worried sick about Lux when she did not come home the night before they pull Lux, Therese, Bonnie, and Mary out of school where they essentially become prisoners in their own home. Some of the boys are completely obsessed with the sisters and begin to communicate with them via Morse code and records and secret phone calls. One night Lux calls the boys to tell them to come over and take them all out. When the boys get there and go into the house they see the four Lisbon sisters have killed themselves.

            I remember watching The Virgin Suicides when I was younger probably around the time it was released on VHS (yes, I said VHS. Yes, I am old deal with it). I think I watched it at a friend’s house and I had no clue what was going on. I just remember John Hartnett with terrible long hair and remember not knowing what was happening. I was twelve years old for fuck’s sake! Throughout the years the movie stuck with me despite not remember it. Now watching it as an adult and knowing how twisted some people can be when it comes to religion and also knowing what depression feels like I totally get the story now. It drove me a little nuts that the parents were so religious and strict. And it also made me really happy to see how far the treatment and sensitivity to mental health disorders has come.  I really liked the movie. I liked all the actors and Sophia Coppola’s direction was fantastic. Kirsten Dunst I never really care for but I liked her here and the same goes with Josh Hartnett. I LOVED seeing Robert Schwartzman in this he was such a baby! He played one of the boys who was infatuated with the Lisbon sisters. I also really liked seeing AJ Cook in a movie. I do not watch Criminal Minds which Cook is in but I have seen her in other things and I like her from those other things. I believe she was the older sister Mary.           
            The Virgin Suicides is a heavy movie but one I highly recommend seeing. In fact I actually want to get this on Blu Ray sometime I liked it that much.