Virgin Suicides

So much of a girl’s life revolves around, and is dictated by gossip…which is a funny thing, considering that gossip depends on trusting your innately shaky source. The way that one will react to another person can easily be changed because of gossip, and can even make one’s own memories fuzzy because of the strong influence of what is supposed to be believed. And it’s not just a girl thing. Men and boys do it. I do it. Every single adult I know does it. Huuptickers probably do it too. It’s like this weirdly all encompassing vacuum that can spread to any aspect of your life, whether it be the color of your fashion top or if your grandma’s sick again.

But gossip is what makes The Virgin Suicides such an intriguing film because the scope of the main characters (The Lisbon daughters), is solely portrayed through the direct experiences, memories and of course spread of word from a group of boys who attempt to demystify their tragic deaths. A clear example of this is at the beginning of the film, when the boys recall talking to a real slick kid in their neighborhood about the first death in the Lisbon family.

“Paul Baldino claimed to have

found Cecilia on her first attempt.

Hey, I was the one who found her.

I was in the storm sewer under my house.

There's all these tunnels.

You could get into anyone's house.

When Paul said this, we believed him...

..because he was the son of Sammy "the Shark" Baldino,...”.

Sorry if it's unclear as to whose saying what. The version of this script sucked.

Here, Sophia is already warning us that we will parallel her characters’ struggle in finding out the actual truth about each Lisbon girl’s life and death. And this type of gossip had spread like the disease the elm trees had in the neighborhood…every single house was terminally affected.

(The boys recalling each house talking about the deaths).

“Everyone had an opinion

as to why Cecilia had tried to kill herself.

 (One woman):That girl didn't want to die.

She just wanted out of that house.

 (Another woman): She wanted out

of that decorating scheme.”

Despite every conversation being dominated by the thought of the Lisbon girls, the boys speak of not understanding them throughout the film. Their confusion and interest in the daughters led them to think of them almost as something separate from girls, almost as if they were a different species-despite the fact that I’m sure sexual interest played a large role in it. Their experiences with the girls, such as the awkward party after the youngest daughter’s attempted suicide, run-ins at school and dances and other fleeting moments only intensified their desire to decrypt their lives. While collecting hard core evidence of who the girls may be, such as Cecilia’s diary (youngest sister), hand-made invitations and thrown away family albums still show all of these young girls as the subjects without a voice. They are the classic case of victims of gossip: observers knowing everything when in fact they know nothing at all.

Although the film’s structure of the girls through other people is a pretty big statement that Coppola is trying to make (and to enhance their sense of mystery), this film touches upon SO many other topics: interactions with the opposite sex, family structure, expression through sexuality and religion…the list goes on. I highly recommend this film to everyone.

Here’s the trailer: