An inherent drawback to seeing a movie after reading its source book is that one forfeits approaching the movie from a fresh perspective. The events in the film can’t help but have a predetermined feel, lacking the spontaneity that a good first viewing affords.
On the other hand, watching the movie after reading the book allows an interesting look at how the filmmaker interpreted the author’s vision, from sets to lines to the physical appearance of characters.
Most of the pleasure of reading Jeffrey Eugenides’ “The Virgin Suicides” and watching the Sofia Coppola film derives from the later.
In 1993 the talented Eugenides, who just won the Pulitzer for “Middlesex,” burst onto the literary scene with “Suicides.” The exceedingly well-written novel elevated teen drama to an art form as it told the story of the five Lisbon sisters and their lives in a 1970s Michigan suburb.
Coppola, daughter of the famous Francis Ford Coppola, made her sophomore directorial effort with “Suicides,” and for the most part, fans of the book and critics in general complimented her on a job well done.
Coppola’s film follows Eugenides’ book to dialogue-closeness. Gradually, the reader-viewer learns about the impending doom of the Lisbon sisters (announced in the title) and the reaction of the boys who have become obsessed with them. During the short lives of the Lisbon sisters, the fixation of the neighborhood boys mostly goes unrequited, as the sisters live under the roof of their ultra-restrictive parents. The spell is broken when heartthrob Trip Fontaine asks Lux Lisbon to the high school dance. A magical evening soon leads to a chaotic one with residual shock waves of disaster.
Although Coppola’s film stays close to the book’s narrative, the film earns its accolades for the vivid and lush details it uses to tell the story. Music plays a big part, both the well-chosen ’70s pop songs and the majestic score by the French band, Air.
However, the film’s true asset is its casting. James Woods and Kathleen Turner do a convincing job as the sisters’ overprotective parents. A pre-“Spider-man” Kirsten Dunst is perfectly cast as the beautiful Lux, the only promiscuous sister and the object of the boys’ desire. Another apt choice is Josh Hartnett as the absurdly good-looking Trip Fontaine. The archetypal high-school babe-magnet, Hartnett captures the vapidness of Fountaine’s character and his simultaneous ability to skate by in life based on his looks. “Suicides” displays a flare for humor when Lux plays hard-to-get and Trip realizes he has never actually had to pursue a girl.
The most interesting feature of “The Virgin Suicides” is its ability to take the stuff of insipid teen fare, like “Dawson’s Creek,” and portray it as something bordering on high art. The hormonal pangs of adolescence may not have been given such a serious treatment since Shakespeare penned “Romeo and Juliet.”
Coppola has achieved an impressive feat with filming Eugenides’ novel. The film shows not only that Coppola ‘gets’ the book, but that she’s also a fan. It’s fashionable to point out that books are usually better than their movies. But if there were more directors with Coppola’s passion for the source material, that might not be the case.
— Jeff Francis