Tripwire Reviews StudioCanal’s 4K Restoration Of Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides

Small-Town Attitudes

Tripwire’s editor-in-chief Joel Meadows just reviewed StudioCanal’s 4K restoration of Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides…

The Virgin Suicides
Director: Sofia Coppola
Stars: Kirsten Dunst, Josh Hartnett, James Woods, Kathleen Turner, AJ Cook, Hanna Hall, Leslie Hayman, Chelse Swain, Anthony Desimone, Lee Kagan, Robert Schwartman

The Virgin Suicides was Sofia Coppola’s directorial debut back inn 1999 and as the daughter of one of modern cinema’s most respected figures, Francis Ford Coppola, she did have a little bit to prove. However, watching this film, for the first time on 4K Blu Ray in the UK, it quickly becomes apparent that she has her own unique flair as a director. Based on the debut novel by Jeffrey Eugenides, The Virgin Suicides is a story set in small-town Michigan in the 1970s about the lives of five teenage sisters, the Lisbon girls (Lux (Dunst), Mary (Cook), Cecilia (Hall), Therese (Hayman) and Bonnie (Swain)) and their increasingly prescriptive parents (Woods and Turner). The Virgin Suicides is a coming of age tale about unrealised potential with the insanely religious upbringing that their parents have foisted upon them forcing them to take extreme action. The boys in the town including much in-demand teenager Trip (Hartnett) see the girls as avatars of what they can’t possess but they also try to offer them a way out of their restrictive existence. 

The Virgin Suicides is a truly haunting, assured and memorable debut from Coppola with an exceptional cast. Dunst had appeared in a few films prior to this but here she provides the beating heart of the film, offering warmth and complexity to her role as the one Lisbon sister you hope may escape her rigid life.

Turner as the insane matriarch of the family is magnetically compelling while Woods as her spineless husband offers the perfect counterpoint. The rest of the cast are very strong as well, acting as omniscient narrators to the Lisbon’s doomed existence. Josh Hartnett, who went on to be a big name just a few years later in films like Sin City and 30 Days Of Night, exudes confidence as the boy that every girl wants to go with. But we see an older version of Trip years later who still regrets the fact that his night with Lux was just that, one night, and he let her slip away. There is good chemistry between the teenage boys, who are so determined to demystify the Lisbon daughters, although this is arguably the girls’ film, with a sense of foreboding that they will never break free that is cleverly developed throughout.

The score by French duo Air also lends so much to The Virgin Suicides too, offering an eerie and unsettling musical backdrop which is an integral part of the overall experience.

Coppola recreates 1970s small-town, narrow minded America with true class and style. The restored version looks lovely here, offering a richer viewing experience through its 4K restoration and extras like the Air documentary which gives us interesting insights into how they approached creating the aural landscape that accompanies the film as well as the behind the scenes documentary are well worth sitting through. Cinematographer Edward Lachman also contributes so much here bringing Coppola’s adaptation to vivid life on screen.

The Virgin Suicides is a literary indie film with real heart and intelligence with some exceptional performances and an accomplished directorial debut from Sofia Coppola. It is good to see it in this enhanced format from StudioCanal and well worth checking out for those who didn’t catch it when it first came out or to revisit it for those who haven’t seen it in a while.

Joel Meadows 

The Virgin Suicides is out now on 4K restored Blu Ray and DVD

Here’s the film’s trailer