The Virgin Suicides
Sofia Coppola
The Virgin Suicides comes from a novel by American writer Jeffrey Eugenides. Sofia Coppola wrote the screenplay and directed this filmed in 1999. The story sets in Grosse Pointe, Michigan during the 1970s, centers around the suicides of five sisters. This film also expressed the family feelings contradiction in deep danger with black comedy special form.
This film gets high rank of praise. But what made this movie important? This is because the film is realistic and thought-provoking. It is not only a film, but also a lecture to show the audiences information and give them question to think about. In this film, the youth issue, family issue, even the social issue, all of them is reflected incisively and vividly. It is realistic, but unlike the newspaper or the report, what the audiences see is the drama, instead of the straightforward language and the stark reality without any color.
The word “virgin” means a female who has never had sexual experience. From the Angle of biology, virgin originally meant a female’s maidenhead is still intact. Anyway, the word “virgin” is always the sign of the purity. It is always full of the sex fantasy and thoughts thronging in people’s mind. Compare with “virgin”, the word “suicide” is the intentional killing of oneself. So, only “death”, “terrorist” and “bloody” this kind of negative words can be connected with it. In general speaking, the word “suicide” itself is the incarnation of the evil. As it takes one’s life and leaves the fear and despair to the other people who are still alive in the world. The sharp contrast between these two words increases the mystery of this film. It catches the audiences’ attention. And then, the story starts.
The old scenes, slightly yellowish photos and a vigorous male’s voice bring the audiences back to the year that the story happened. The whole story begins with Cecilia, the youngest sister’s suicide. Some unharmonious sound is mixed in the light music and it becomes louder, until it is loud enough to make sure everyone can hear it. It is the ambulance. The close up shot shows a lovely but lifeless face. It suddenly brings audiences a heavy visual impact and makes the whole movie in a silent panic; make the person feels heavy at the beginning. Along with the development of drama, the audiences will feel heavier and heavier, until the heavy straight overwhelmed. At this time, the audiences should realize that neither the “virgin” nor the “suicide” is the key of the film, but something over or not mentioned in this film will be the real key that should be attention.
Cecilia’s face when she suicides in bathroom, lifeless face.
In this movie, everything starts from boys’ subjective visual. The Lisbon girls are mysterious; all of them are full of rich colors. In their eyes, they never really understood that what happened in that little room, the tiny heart exactly what holds. For Cecilia’s suicide, nobody knows why this girl wants to kill herself, even her parents. So, different people have different guess. Maybe the neighborhoods are right, she just wants to leave, be away from the strict education, the autocratic control. Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon are afraid, and they try to find out the problems. So, they send Cecilia to see the Psychological doctor. “You are not old enough to understand how terrible the life is.” “You've never been a 13-year-old girl.” Cecilia’s shot and mature answer, it can be said, it opens the prelude for the girls’ suicide. After that, Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon obey the experts’ suggestion, hold the party for Cecilia. However, they do not reconsider their education radically. Cecilia’s suicide shook all the neighborhoods and made her family into a state of the damaged beyond repair. More importantly, for her sisters, she already sets a model for imitation; finally, all of them kill themselves as well. Just like the plague, spreading in everywhere of that mysterious house which they cannot get into.
Cecilia’s suicide
When they gradually recovered from Cecilia’s death, Trip comes into Lux’s life and leads to the waves in the traditional conservative family. Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon let Trip come to their place to watch TV with them because of Cecilia’s death and the doctor said that the Lisbon girls should contact with boys. They allow the Lisbon girls to go out to join the dancing party as they do not want the tragedy happened again, they do not want to lose daughters any more. However, Lux misses the curfew time. In the next day, Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon see her trancelike face. They realize that something really bad and what they are afraid happened. Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon are very devout Christians; they cannot tolerate the premarital sexual behavior. But Lux, the devout Christians’ daughter, just breaking the taboo. Through the extremely long shot, the parents’ anger and worry are obvious. As a result, Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon lock girls in the house; they use the extreme way to protect them.
One thing should be mentioned here, that is in other countries, the title of this movie also translated as The locked youth. It means that Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon can lock the girls at home in order to protect them. However, they are unable to lock their mind, youth and dreams. Now, I’d like to explain that neither the “virgin” nor the “suicide” is the theme. The real leader of the film is just a kind of relationship between children and parents. Something over or not mentioned in this film can be defined as the sharp contradiction in a family. It is not only the family problem, but also up to the social issue level. This kind of feature is also one of the reasons for the success of this film. After seeing this film, quite a lot of audiences, especially the parents say that they learn something from it and they also begin to think about the way that they educate their children.
With Cecilia’s death, this point also secretly revealed the other Lisbon girls’ death in the end of this film. They just want to leave, leave the boring even suffocating environment. They want to go outside, go back to school, go to see the world outside, go to those places that they really want to go. However, they are under their parents’ control. Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon control their daughters as they love them and they should protect them so that they can avoid being hurt. But to those young girls, who desire for freedom, they just over-protected and this kind of love is too heavy to carry. Finally, they choose to end their young life to release their youth and escape from the world.
Lux’s suicide, only one hand is hanging out.
Many times, suicide has a clear and fully reason. For example, the businessman suicides because of the financial crisis; a lady suicides maybe she just break up with her boyfriend. But in this film, most of the audience will find that it is hard to find out an exact reason for the Lisbon girls to suicide. Maybe, just don't ask why. The people have to find a reason. Life itself do not need a reason, it is not a rational design in accordance with meticulous design good programs. We do not encourage death and suicide. This is because neither suicide nor death would solve problems. It never goes beyond our understanding, so vivid, so inconceivable, shows the beautiful and splendid was the cruel. But this is the life and death, containing various kinds of death. In this film, religious beliefs, boring and strict environment, closing and smothering survival environment, besides this, there are no more better choice for those young girls. They died; maybe their young soul will achieve their wishes. The strict education can lock their body and thought, but their souls are free. They can go anywhere they want.
Lux’s smile face, perhaps the girls really happy in the other world now.
This film is only 97-minute-long, and it was filmed in 1999. However, it already covers lots of social problems existed in that time, even in today’s society. The time keeps going, the society is developing, with this kind of development, people’s thought is in progress as well. But everything has two sides; the disadvantages also follow the advantages. At this time, the teenagers’ thoughts are also gradually forming. They begin to wish the freedom. They want to do something they really want to do. They even do not want to follow parents’ mind. The only reason for this kind of behavior can be defined as one word, the “youth”.
Back to the film, the narrative voice seems to be the eye of God. However, when a boy’s voice appears. It is clear, the story is told by first-person. This is because he is one of the parties in that event. At the beginning of the film, there are four boys looking at the five beautiful Lisbon girls. Who is the person telling the story? This is the question that confused the audiences. Is the boy with brown hair or the guy with golden hair? Maybe, he is the quiet one. The youngest boy may be the teller as well. From the sub-title, it is clear that this story happened in 25 years ago. That is quite a long time. It is so long that the teller is not able to be proven. What the audiences know is just that the teller must be one of the boys who really love the girls. Even 25 years past, he still remembers them.
The way used to tell the story is flash back. It looks like the linear narrative structure, but actually, it is not exact enough as in the middle of the film. The teller already goes out of the story and there is just a middle-aged man appears in front of the audiences, instead of the young boy. The teller is old; he is no longer a young boy in the story. No one can make sure who he is. So, the most suitable way to describe the narrative structure is flash forwards. This is because everything happened in the story follows the time line. In general speaking, all of the events happened day by day and all of them are continuous. Something that connects the events is the time span. For example, after Cecilia’s first suicide, Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon already decide to give their daughters a normal social environment, they allow the boys to join the party, even allow the four girls to go outside to dance with boys. But at last, they deprive all of the rights that they used to give the girls. Such huge contrast may let the audience feel isolated. But actually, for Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon’s behavior, what the audiences really feel is just extreme, cold, and even cruel. As between the two events, what happened to Lux is already told the audiences the reasons that Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon would do something. This is because the inevitable connection between the two events. The girls’ boring life in the house is also buried a small house for their suicides. Time flies, one day, it takes the Lisbon girls’ lives, as time already takes their wish. They are hopeless. Maybe, they can get freedom in the other world. No matter youth or life, everything will be taken by time.
In fact, the most successful part of the film is the atmosphere creating by the director, Sofia Coppola. The difference of other same type of films, this is a warm opening in this film. But with Cecilia’s suicide, the gloom and blurred always float in the air. It does not dissipate in the whole film. Although it has a bright warm color, but actually, it gives the feeling really heavy and shudder. And it plus Air’s music, this feeling is more apparent. The film ended with the music (Playground Love), girls’ souls may be getting the freedom, but audiences are not so easy to escape.
The beginning of the film with Air’s music.
And the end of the film, people get together in a party. From the suits, we can see that the boys are growing up. They are not the childish guys look at the Lisbon girls’ life by the telescope and dream that they can take them out of the house and release their youth with the girls who they used to love.
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Teresa
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