I loved this movie. First time I've seen Claire Forlani, but it won't be the last. Freddie Prinze, Jr. was Freddie Prinze, Jr., but Claire Forlani was terrific. I liked this movie so much that I have it on tape and watch parts of it over and over again. Lots of people didn't seem to like this movie much. Maybe, I liked so much because it reminded me of my college days in the 60's, in particular, how my wife and I got together there. I'd give this movie an 8 out of 10.
Reviews
2 Reviews
The Virgin Suicides
(1999)
The most improbable and depressing movies I can remember seeing
3 August 2002
"The Virgin Suicides" is a highly improbable story of the suicides of 5 beautiful teenage sisters. Cecilia, 12 commits suicide at the beginning of the movie and Lux 14, Bonnie 15, Mary 16, and Therese 17 do so at the end, all on the same night. It is a highly contrived movie designed to provide maximum tragic and depressing feeling in the viewer. And in this it succeeds. Some have commented that they wished for a different ending. I too wished for that. But even more than that, I wish I had never seen the movie. I found it to be the most depressing and disturbing movie I ever remember seeing. The story is told by four neighborhood boys looking back for 25 years in the future who were fascinated with the girls. Therefore, we know nothing of the girls thoughts or what they talked about. The boys' tragedy is the lost years they could have had getting nearer to and interacting with the girls. Others have commented on various improbabilities of this film. Here are mine. Is Lux so stupid or lustful as to blatantly bread curfew? Is it reasonable that four teenage sisters who are well aware of the effects of suicide on those that are left behind conspire to commit suicide on the same night and by different methods, or for that matter, commit suicide at all? Was that drastic final solution the only course available to them? No. We know from the book upon which the movie is based that the suicides occur one year from the date of Cecilia's first attempt. Therese is now and and Mary must be months away from 18. Therese at least could simply leave and Mary could follow thereafter. The boys were invited over that night on the pretext of helping the girls run away, a solution far more reasonable than suicide. Instead, they are met by Lux with whom they talk for a few minutes before she leaves for the garage. Why were they invited? Probably to add dramatic effect when the find Bonnie hanging and jump over one of the sisters legs when they run out of the house. Why didn't they try to save Lux? She had only been the garage for a few minutes. And what about Mary? They could have probably saved her. In the book, Mary survives her first attempt without the boys' help. Or perhaps the whole ending is a dream or a metaphor for the girls transition from adolescence to maturity. Two scenes at the end of the movie haunt me still after 3 months. The first is of Lux letting the boys into the house and telling them to wait there for he sisters and she will wait in the car. As she leaves, she turns and looks back at the boys. In my mind, that look was one of deep sadness and said, "I will never see you boys again, but what I am about to do , I do because I must not because I want to." The scene of her arm hanging out the car window is a conformation that she did indeed do what she had to do. Kirsten Dunst was outstanding in this movie. I can't separate Lux as a fictional character and Kirsten as an actress. To try and shake myself out of those two haunting scenes, I have emersed myself in Kirsten Dunst movies with happy endings,including "True Heart", "Bring it on", "Let it go", "Crazy Beautiful", and of course "Spider Man", but not "Deeply"
Tell Your Friends