The Virgin Suicides

The Virgin Suicides

By: Christine M. Sepulveda


The tale set in 1970s suburbia of the five Lisbon girls Lux, Mary, Therese, Bonnie, and Cecilia is narrated by the boys in their community that were completely infatuated by them. These boys for the most part are reacting to the situations that surround the lives of these sad and tormented young girls. The title of the movies says it all. However, these girls were not necessarily all virgins when they ended their short lives in the exact sense, but more like virgins that they were not able to experience all that life had to offer. These girls were for the most part confined to their home and their strict parents. These girls were never really able to express themselves freely in their home. Their story is not one of rainbows and unicorns, but of the reality of what so many young girls have and are still going through in our society. The one theme in this film in my opinion that illustrates, develops, questions or challenges the representation of girls is that of Fate vs. Free will.



The fate of these girls was their death, but all they truly longed for was a chance at free will, a chance for freedom. The boys in the film pointed out the reality of the imprisonment of these girls, and all girls for that matter. They recognized how difficult it was to be a girl. “This has much to do with the fact that “”virgin”” is almost always synonymous with “”woman.””Virgin sacrifices, popping cherries, white dresses, supposed vaginal tightness, you name it. Outside of the occasional reference to the male virgin in the form of a goofy movie about horny teenage boys, virginity is pretty much all about women. Even the dictionary definitions of “”virgin”” cite an “”unmarried girl or woman”” or a religious woman, esp. a saint.”” No such definition exists for men or boys” (Valenti 21). There was and still is so much pressure for young girls to be of a certain way. Girls are expected to be sweet, quiet, and “lady like”. Girls are for the most part not encouraged to self expression when it comes to sexuality, knowledge, and even with every day experiences. This lack of self expression is seen in this film rather frequently. Specifically, their strict mother inflicts the most damage without even knowing it. At times through the film you may even feel sorry for this unaware mother. However, it is critical to understand that this woman did love her daughters, but just did a horrible job of allowing their growth of true self expression. As the movie progresses and their fate came even closer their eyes begin to express feelings of torment, blankness, and true misery. These girls had the potential to do great and amazing things with their lives, but their fate would not allow them.


As stated previously the girls were not really allowed to express themselves especially concerning their sexuality. “Living in a changing body can mean many things for a girl the chance to experience herself as a sexual and desirable in positive ways, and in ways that might seem bewildering as such figures out her relationship to her own sexuality” (Lipkin 67). Lux was the most sexual out of all the girls. She is also known as the prettiest girl in school. Consequently, she even won the ultimate teen honor of homecoming queen. Lux expresses herself sexually through the film, but more specifically does so to try and fill a void in her life. She was expressing herself in a more often than not negative way to fill the void that was her lack of freedom. “ Cultures that prize virginity and “”purity”” discourage women from having sexual partners before the sanctioned partnership of marriage; thinking through virginity’s historical significance for women helps us to understand how far a culture has moved toward egalitarian gender relationships and to also recognize what vestige of patriarchal rules are still present”(Lipkin 66). All that these girls ever wanted was freedom to the outside world. They all had a love for music. Music in a sense was their outlet to the outside world. These girls would share their feelings and dreams through music to each other and to the boys that were obsessed with them. Their lack of free will drove these girls to do the unthinkable. Their lack of free will placed these girls in a position of just wanting out. They did not really care where they would go to, heaven, hell, or anywhere all they wanted was a chance to be free. Lux would cry out to her mother stating “I can’t breathe in here”. Her mother would tell her that she was safe in their two story fenced in home. The sequence of events that took place in the lives and deaths of the Lisbon girls only led them to the fate that changed their community specifically the infatuated boys forever. Life did go on in their community and these boys, but it would really never be the same.


Overall, this dark, interesting, raw, and tormenting film portrayed the lives and deaths of five girls that just wanted free will. All these girls ever wanted were the chance to make their own decisions and/or their own mistakes. However, the only way fate would make this chance possible for them was by taking their own short lives.

Director:Sofia Coppola
Writers:Jeffrey Eugenides (novel)
Sofia Coppola (written by)