The Virgin Suicides **** (Kirsten Dunst, Josh Hartnett, James Woods, Kathleen Turner) – Classic Movie Review 664

Virgins – the five Lisbon family sisters (Kirsten Dunst, A J Cook, Hannah Hall, Leslie Hayman, Chelse Swain) – make a suicide pact in 70s affluent suburban America. A group of young male friends living in the suburb become obsessed with the mysterious sisters who are sheltered by their parents after one of them commits suicide. And the men’s lives are changed for ever by their obsession.

Sofia Coppola’s 1999 real-life small-town satire and report from the underbelly of adolescence is a dark-toned, highly original film.

This uniquely disturbing movie is graced with beautifully judged performances by Dunst (as Lux Lisbon), Josh Hartnett (as the bewildered boyfriend Trip Fontaine) and James Woods and Kathleen Turner (as the girls’ strict, religious parents). And it’s exquisitely handled in her director debut by director Coppola, who also wrote the expert screenplay based on the novel by Jeffrey Eugenides.

Danny DeVito, Michael Paré, Robert Schwartzman, Noah Shebib, Anthony DeSimone, Lee Kagan and Hayden Christensen also appear.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 664

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