The Virgin Suicides (2000)
84%RT Audience Score: 81%
Awards & Nominations: 3 wins & 14 nominations
The Virgin Suicides drifts with a dreamlike melancholy that may strike some audiences as tedious, but Sofia Coppola’s feature debut is a mature meditation on disaffected youth
The Virgin Suicides” is like a modern-day fairy tale, but instead of a happy ending, it’s a haunting one. Sofia Coppola’s use of color and editing is so mesmerizing that you almost forget you’re watching a movie about teenage suicide. The film’s portrayal of femininity is both beautiful and tragic, and it’s hard not to feel nostalgic for a time you never even lived through. Overall, “The Virgin Suicides” is a visually stunning and emotionally complex film that will stay with you long after the credits roll.
Production Company(ies)
Red Light Films, HBO, Cinemax Documentary Creative Visions
Distributor
Paramount Pictures
Release Type
Filming Location(s)
28 Dunloe Road, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for strong thematic elements involving teens
Year of Release
2000
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby Digital
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:1h 37m
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Language(s):English
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): May 12, 1999 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 7, 2007
Genre(s)
Drama
Keyword(s)
starring James Woods, Kathleen Turner, Kirsten Dunst, Josh Hartnett, Hanna Hall, Chelse Swain, directed by Sofia Coppola, written by Sofia Coppola, Jeffrey Eugenides, drama, R rating, box office gross $4.9M, produced by Francis Ford Coppola, Julie Costanzo, Dan Halsted, Chris Hanley, reviewed by Roxana Hadadi, Richard Brody, Nell Minow, Emanuel Levy, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Moira MacDonald, Dolby Stereo, Dolby SR, Dolby Digital, Surround, disaffected youth, suburban house, dreamy Lisbon sisters, doomed fates, repression, fantasy, terror, sex, death, memory, longing, mystery story, investigation, impenetrable secrets, American adolescence
Worldwide gross: $10,410,044
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $18,055,345
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,749
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 1,968,958
US/Canada gross: $4,906,229
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $8,509,441
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,667
US/Canada opening weekend: $235,122
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $407,799
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,452
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $9,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $15,609,742
Production budget ranking: 1,497
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $8,405,846
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): -$5,960,243
ROI to date (est.): -25%
ROI ranking: 1,532
Kathleen Turner – Mrs. Lisbon
Kirsten Dunst – Lux Lisbon
Josh Hartnett – Trip Fontaine
Hanna Hall – Cecilia Lisbon
Chelse Swain – Bonnie Lisbon
Director(s)
Sofia Coppola
Writer(s)
Sofia Coppola, Jeffrey Eugenides
Producer(s)
Francis Ford Coppola, Julie Costanzo, Dan Halsted, Chris Hanley
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
3 wins & 14 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (105) | Top Critics (31) | Fresh (82) | Rotten (23)
The Virgin Suicides offers a glimpse into the murky unknowability of adolescence, and its legacy is tied to the portraits of femininity with which Sofia Coppola has crafted her filmography.
May 9, 2020
Roxana Hadadi
Crooked Marquee
TOP CRITIC
A surprisingly intricate struggle with absence, grief, and memory.
July 30, 2012
Richard Brody
New Yorker
TOP CRITIC
Intense, imperfect movie about teen suicide.
December 29, 2010 | Rating: 2/5
Nell Minow
Common Sense Media
TOP CRITIC
Sofia Coppola tackles the issue of teenage suicide with an assured treatment in The Virgin Suicides, effectively employing a seriocomic tone.
July 18, 2007
Emanuel Levy
Variety
TOP CRITIC
A very curious and eclectic piece of work.
July 18, 2007
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader
TOP CRITIC
A disarmingly poetic – and specifically female – vision of adolescence that it belongs in a category of its own.
December 31, 2003
Moira MacDonald
Seattle Times
TOP CRITIC
Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides may not have much of a plot to speak of, but thanks to a talented cast and intriguing subject matter, it remains a hypnotic and compelling experience that keeps you engaged for its brief 90-minute runtime.
July 8, 2022 | Rating: 3.5/5
Jeff Beck
The Blu Spot
Coppola’s visually arresting adaptation of Jeffrey Eugenides’ cocktail-talk novel is pure aesthetic candy; her saturated colors, pitch-perfect ’70s sensibility, and snapshot editing produce an unsettling modern fairy tale.
May 27, 2022
Emily Drabinski
Out Magazine
Although the events in “The Virgin Suicides” may not be presented through an innately nostalgic lens, they become a binding source of nostalgia by viewing the film 20 years after its initial wide release.
February 16, 2022
Olivia Popp
Vague Visages
A visually resplendent if narratively unsettling drama.
August 29, 2021 | Rating: 3.5/4
Matt Brunson
Film Frenzy
But the film’s core has much more to say about how someone’s suicide is perceived and remembered by society as a whole than about the act of suicide itself.
February 2, 2021 | Rating: 4.5/5
Nicole Ackman
In Their Own League
Sofia Coppola’s directorial debut is a dark, gauzy adaptation…The laconic style of the film purposefully and poetically echoes the emotionally troubled tide that grips the sisters.
October 9, 2020 | Rating: 3.5/4
Tom Meek
Cambridge Day…
Plot
A man about forty years of age tells the story from when he was a teenager in upscale suburban Detroit of his and three of his friends’ fascination with the mysterious and doomed Lisbon sisters. In 1974, the sisters were seventeen year old Therese, sixteen year old Mary, fifteen year old Bonnie, fourteen year old Lux, and thirteen year old Cecilia. Their fascination still remains as they try to piece together the entire story. The sisters were mysteries if only because of having a strict and overprotective upbringing by their father, who taught math at the girls’ private co-ed school, and overly devout Catholic mother, who largely dictated the household rules. The story focuses primarily on two incidents and the resulting situations on the girls’ lives. The first was an action by Cecilia to deal with her emotions over her life. And the second was the relationship between Lux – the sister who pushed the boundaries of the household rules most overtly in doing what most teenagers want to do – and Trip Fontaine, he who could have any girl he wanted but wanting solely Lux.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Nothing to add here about The Virgin Suicides.
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