‎The Virgin Suicides (1999) directed by Sofia Coppola • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

The Virgin Suicides

1999 Directed by Sofia Coppola

Beautiful, mysterious, haunting, invariably fatal. Just like life.

A group of male friends become obsessed with five mysterious sisters who are sheltered by their strict, religious parents.

Kirsten Dunst James Woods Kathleen Turner A.J. Cook Leslie Hayman Hanna Hall Chelse Swain Josh Hartnett Michael Paré Jonathan Tucker Noah "40" Shebib Anthony DeSimone Lee Kagan Scott Glenn Danny DeVito Robert Schwartzman Hayden Christensen Kristin Fairlie Giovanni Ribisi Joe Dinicol

Alternative Titles

The Virgin Suicides – Das Geheimnis ihres Todes, Il Giardino delle Vergini Suicide, The Virgin Suicides - Verlorene Jugend, The Virgin Suicides - Verlorene Jugend Unvergessen, 처녀 자살 소동, As Virgens Suicídas

drama romance

97 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Anna ★★ 6

tag yourselves i'm the virgins that committed suicide
Review by brat pitt ★★★★½ 5

the only thing that would've made this suicide squad better is margot robbie
Review by robyn ★★★★★ 2

Do you have a film that makes you so happy but so completely sad at the same time? Because this film, this hazy and soft and sparkly film is mine.
Review by SilentDawn ★★★★ 5

78

So impenetrable, sleepy, unsettling and fierce. For me, it isn't really a question of why the Lisbon sisters do what they do, but why so many people look at them with confusion, mystery, and detachment in their mind and fantasies. Why does Trip leave the football field that night, exactly? It certainly isn't post-sex ennui. Rather, it stems from the male dominance refusing to come to terms with someone complex, someone who needs not to be judged but simply understood as another person, in all their flaws and fuzzy grey areas. The only constant, real-life individuals are the Lisbon sisters - everyone else is attempting to enter a dream-world that doesn't exist, suddenly being given consequences to their elusive actions.
Review by mia ★★★★ 3

i really wanna meet kirsten dunst just so i can ask her what's her secret to make all the guys go crazy.
i mean she did date jake gyllenhaal so she's legit
Review by Daniel ★★★★½

One of the most predominantly memorable, yet overlooked shots in Sofia Coppola's 1999 masterpiece is a shot of a Japanese parasol next to Cecilia during her first attempted suicide. A parasol from a culture with the highest suicide rate of all time, where an act which seems cowardly or immature in other societies is seen culturally as an act of honor.

The Lisbon girls are but shadows. Their faces once remembered vividly by the neighborhood boys are almost completely diminished. All that's left if the mysteriously beautiful times they shared before a future was lost.

Just like their very own tree on their front lawn, the Lisbon girls appear normal but are extremely sick. The comprehension of the surrounding citizens…

Recent reviews

Review by andré ★★★★½

nossa queria tanto que a sofia tivesse aprofundado os significados do filme, por exemplo a árvore que a cecilia gostava e o buraco que tinha no meio dela representando possíveis traumas com a mãe, seria muito bom!!! só que mesmo sem esse aprofundamento da pra ver aspectos da psicologia analítica e jung em representações de simbologias e significados. enfim, lindo...
Review by quietprofanity ★★★★½

Seen as part of 52 Films by Women.

Coppola the Younger has something of a spotty reputation these days, particularly because of her focus on privileged white girls (understandable given her background) and her spotty portrayal of race and/or whitewashing (maybe also understandable but less excusable). With her first feature, though, she’s working perfectly within her worldview and wheelhouse, and bringing a positive, interesting female perspective to a work that … at its heart, is basically about boys collectively viewing and maybe even objectifying girls without truly understanding them. It’s a story that could and sometimes does play with sexist tropes, but always has empathy for the lonely girls who are just out of reach.

So much of the imagery…
Review by Arissa ★★★

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

This movie is littered with male gaze-y vibes but here's why I think it's a bit interesting that it does so. Coppola's narrator is a teenage boy that doesn't know any better than the audience of the mystery of the Lisbon girls. Girlhood is this well-kept secret that only those who possess it can truly understand what it means. I cannot deny how artful the color and sound editing in this film is. The voices of our teens are kept low, almost reflecting the awkwardness of growing up and trying to live through the shyness of a crush, a first love, sex, grief, and everything that could possibly make growing up painful. At that age, the moments that make you…
Review by worthfightfor ★★★

"I hope I die before I get old." - Pete Townshend
Review by millspon ★★★½

Definitely a fan of Sofia Coppola other work like, “Lost in Translation”. But this film was great but, for me personally I wouldn’t rank this film anywhere near my top 10 films but I have noticed other girls have this up in their favorites. I definitely see the message it was conveying and the use of symbolism. Not bad!
Review by Nina Visser ★★★★½

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

For the apparent experts of this event, these boys are certainly obtuse when the evidence feels painfully obvious.

Perhaps instead of reminiscing on their sensual memories of the girls pubescent bodies, nonchalantly remarking on their creepy infatuation/stalking and romantiscing/fetishing their obvious attempts to reach out for a connection, they should feel disgustingly guilty for, what I feel, is their contribution to the unbearable conditions that lead to these girls' suicide. They would have probably come to a conclusion quicker instead of collectively masturbating to them for 25 years.

And perhaps that's what the film is trying to tell me.

That the true monster here is the horrifying fascination these men have of their objects that are memories of girls instead…
Review by mariatorom ★★★½

visually stunning...need to rewatch
Review by kaitlin ★★★★½

i’ve never been so happy to see danny devito in my entire life <33

i feel like i’ll never really understand this movie, and i’m alright with that. i love how it was shot... so heavy and hazy. i love the narration too which is rare, but i can’t imagine it without it.
Review by Steven ★★★★

Hell of a debut from Sofia Coppola. Recalls through rose-tinted glasses the kind of languorous, melancholic confusion of adolescence, nearing adulthood and completely unsure of oneself let alone the opposite sex. Every frame is washed out and hazy, romantic and dreamlike recalling Wong Kar-wai and Peter Weir's Picnic At Hanging Rock.