MovieChat Forums > The Virgin Suicides (2000) Discussion > What the heck is this movie about?

What the heck is this movie about?

posted 14 years ago by poxy65
93 replies | jump to latest

Whenever I watch a movie I don't fully understand, I come straight to these boards and read a variety of interpretations. After I read the reviews and debates on this board I decided most of the comments on "The Virgin Suicides" are garbage.

So what was this film about?

Many of the interpretations on this board discuss the strict parents. I am nearly positive the intention of this movie was not to make a comment on parenting. If that is the case, this movie is crap. Though the parents dictated the girl's lives, and were overprotective, there was no normal cause for suicidal thoughts. The moron gossipy neighbors were wrong! They were being satirized. It's the narrator that correctly asserts that the suicides were a complete mystery.

I was captivated enough by the film, but upon seeing the ending I completely turned on the movie. Because in the end, I felt that it had told us nothing. These girls seemed to send a shock wave of bad things. But it was giving these characters power they didn't deserve. We are TOLD all these things, but what was honestly so special about these girls? Aside from the Cecile and Lux, the other three are interchangeable, almost traitless. From what the movie shows us, they were normal in every way, coming of age. And the power and mystery surrounding their suicides, (suggesting that it was anything other than a bad decision) is offensive and requires justification in my eyes.

I really didn't like how the movie tells you in the beginning, you won't understand this if you haven't been a teenage girl. Make no mistake, the movie, tells us, the audience, that. From the mouth of a 13 year old bitch who magically has all the knowledge and insight of an adult writer. The early Ribisi narration tells us that the girls held all the cards. They were light years ahead of the boys, and they knew everything about life love, and the narrator and his friends. This was explained by a narrator, but never shown in the film. Not really. What we are told and what we are shown do not match up.

Finally, The ending monologue confirms what the audience has been gypped of: A resolution to the titular acts. It wasn't a message about why they killed themselves. It was left a mystery! Though many of the film viewers feel they know why it happened, the very character who's eyes we see the story through, and who obsessively collected the evidence, has no idea.

We are left to imagine. And people make conclusions according to their own biases and perceptions. I feel like this movie has the potential to connect with people, especially because of the passion in the coming of age elements, but with the truths, come many subtle untruths (IMO). The characters are so subtle and realistic that the writers voice in all of them is barely noticeable.

This is just my initial interpretation. If I watch it again some time this might change radically. Also if I read some interpretations that sound halfway sensical that would help me figure it out. Because I do have questions I have no idea how to answer.

1. Why cut to a future Trip Fontaine? That made no sense to me. Didn't help the story at all. All I could think was. You can't cast a different actor to play a character who looks nineteen. It never works. It corroborated the haunting effect the girls had, but why? Why, why, why?

2. Why invite the guys in the suicide house at the end? Why mess with them like that? I honestly have no ideas. If I could talk to Sofia Coppola I'd ask her about that first.

Maybe the key to everything is just something I overlooked. All I know is open ended movies often lead to everyone making their own stupid conclusions. Go to a Coen Bros. movie board, and the majority are interesting, compelling interpretations. This movie seems to spark a load of unsatisfying retarded debates and observations. The people who connect with it most do the worst job at explaining why.

[–] poxy65 14 years ago

More on preposterous interpretations:

"The girls weren't able to be individuals. They were stunted by their parents, and that was their reason to kill themselves."

I'm sorry, if the whole movie is about being allowed to express yourself freely at age 13-18, that is just ludicrous. While we recognize the parents as being strict, they were still loving and trying to do what they thought was right.

While you demonize the parents (I'm guessing you guys have parent issues) I criticize the group of girls who supposedly know so much of life (from what, 40 rock records and a sheltered suburban existence); and who, as the narrator stated, had this inexplicable disregard for anyone else. You'd have to, to stage such an outrageous multiple suicide.

In real life, people have dark suicidal thoughts for real reasons. As far as the filmmakers go, picking out an opinion on individuality and parenting, and killing five mysterious super sisters as a way to express that opinion, is ridiculous. And it's offensive to use such a dark topic of suicide to promote your ideas. If that is your interpretation, it's lame. And if that's what the movie is actually saying, than the movie is lame.

[–] dotty_48910 14 years ago

I think the story is actually about the boys. They coexisted with these girls, yet they knew nothing about them. I think they fell in love with the girls because they were so mysterious, and I beleive their love turned into an obsession once the girls died.

The story goes to the future Trip because, even after all the years, the boys are still trying to figure out more information. Trip fell in love with Lux because she was a mystery, once he had her, he didn't want her anymore.

I don't think that the girls had the wisdom of adults, that was just the boys' impression. I think they were just regular kids.

The book is much better than the movie, but it won't answer any of your questions.

[–] Hokay 11 years ago

I really liked your summary!

[–] ModarNow 10 years ago

Perfect summary !

[–] trippycheez 13 years ago

My interpretation:

This film is about the sexual objectification of girls and the lack of options they have in a society that sees them as virgins to be guarded or seduced, sensational media fodder, childish figures who can be condescended to, etc.

On one hand, the girls are "loved" by their parents, who stifle their every whim and joy in the name of protecting their innocence. On the other hand, they are "loved" by boys who constantly watch them and fantasize about them--but (as in the case of Trip) this sexualized "love" may easily turn to abandonment once the boys get tired of the girls. (The girls' mystique, their seeming unknowable-ness, is their primary allure.) Both their parents and their would-be boyfriends seem to understand the girls primarily as sexual objects. Neither party seems to talk much to the girls or tries to understand them as individuals.

The brief flash of their conversation in the car on the way to homecoming shows that the girls are fairly intelligent, interesting and critical of their surroundings. But we hardly ever hear the girls talking in this manner because the film is narrated by boys who watch the girls as from afar rather than converse with them. Who are Bonnie, Mary and Therese? We don't know much about the girls aside from Lux because the boys focus most of their attention on her, the most sexually awakened of the group. (One boy does try to strike up a conversation with one of the other sisters, but he begins by introducing himself--which she finds off-putting, as they've been attending the same school together for years and presumably know each other already. She can tell she's being hit on.)

The girls are rarely given the chance to shape their own destinies. Consider the homecoming dance: Trip and Mr. Berlin basically negotiate and come to an agreement about it without the girls' input (of course, the girls are happy for any excuse to leave the house, but they were not exactly active agents in the process).

Other examples include Cecelia's visit to the psychiatrist - he gives her an inkblot test, then tells her parents that she needs to hang around boys more. Cecelia never wanted or asked for a party, but that's what her parents do to cure her depression. What's wrong with Cecelia? We don't know, because no one in the movie ever bothers to ask her. Like the doctor, they just assume that a 13-year-old girl cannot have many real emotional problems. They speculate that it is the parents' fault, or society's fault. No one ever talks it out with Cecelia herself.

The girls are trapped. The boys come and go from each other's houses, for example after one of them gets tired of playing music into the phone for them. The priest can walk into their room. Trip can come and watch TV. One of the boys actually goes into their bathroom. But they never really go anywhere besides school (where they remain guarded by their father, who is a teacher), the homecoming dance (where their father is a chaperone), and their own house. They are always under patriarchal control.

Ultimately the girls communicate by self-destructing, refusing to enter a limited womanhood. They literally "can't breathe" in the house. They are asphyxiating--and the asphixiation-themed debutante party just shows how empty and thoughtless the world can be. What would the girls have become? Fearful middle-aged women like their mother? Silly women like their neighbors? Phony women like the TV news reporter?

In committing suicide they deeply affect those around them, especially the boys, who now yearn for that lost opportunity to understand.

[–] bekkih 13 years ago

Thank you for this! This is the best interpretation I have seen yet.

[–] lethalblonde 13 years ago

I completely agree with this. I just watched this movie for the first time this afternoon (criminal, I know) and that was the impression I had. Not to mention, throughout the entire movie, the girls are pretty much seen as interchangeable by the boys--one of the girls even recognizes this, and makes a remark to that effect when the sisters are told they're allowed to go the homecoming dance. One of them asks basically who is going with who, and another says something about basically being raffled. No one in the film cares to get to know any of them on an individual basis (other than Trip with Lux)--it's like they come as a packaged set or something. Same with the horrible scene with the boys in the Lisbons' house toward the end--Chase says something like "Oh, those girls drive me crazy--if I could just feel one of them up. . . " right before he bumps into Bonnie's (?) body dangling from the ceiling.

That debutante ball at the end really summed up the message of the movie perfectly, I think--a stiflingly limited womanhood was all there was to look forward to.

[–] llfdaniels 12 years ago

Excellent!

[–] adiunderground 12 years ago

very intersting interpratration.
now i feel like seing it again, after watching it a few times and never fully understand. i always thought it made no sense at all to why they comitted suicide.

[–] gorgsharpy 12 years ago

Can't breathe - yep, and notice HOW consequent Sofia make them commit suicide at the end - by deprieving themselves of air (or Air as the band is called) - head in the gasoven, CO2-ed in garage, strangled in hanging...

"You couldn't be much further from the truth" - several

[–] titusbeertsen 11 years ago

Very interesting interpretation, I think you hit all the right points!

"The willow sees the heron's image upside down" from 'Sans Soleil'

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] the_new_indie 11 years ago

I think you hit the nail on the head. And to answer OP's question about why they invited the boys to their house when they committed the suicides, I think it's to prove the point that while the boys seemed like they were trying to help the girls (by trying to get them out of their house and communicate with them), the oppressive household is just a distraction. The real culprit is the boys themselves because they're doing the same as society, which is fetishizing the girls.

[–] lombano 11 years ago

Unlike Trip, the boys actually tried to understand the girls - yes, they saw them as essentially indistinguishable from one another, but they still tried to understand them, even if failing to differentiate between the sisters. In their defense, apart from Cecilia and to some extent Lux the girls were so nondescript apart from their physical appearance that they were indeed almost indistinguishable. Also, Lux's behavior after being dumped by Trip encouraged others to fetishise her.
As to why they made the boys witness their deaths, I think they at some level resented that the boys took an interest in them but this did nothing to solve their basic problem of being prisoners in their own home - perhaps they even blamed the boys at some level for not doing something, even thought the boys could do nothing the girls couldn't have done themselves. Thus it was a kind of revenge for not saving them, because, to quote another film about teenagers, "suicide is the ultimate *beep* you."

[–] AccidntlTourist 11 years ago

Brilliant.

[–] CarolStarr 11 years ago

Responding to: by
trippycheez
» Tue Jun 7 2011 21:21:37

Good post! :)

It's like the old John Lennon quote about drug use when Lennon stated, we should find out why people take drugs in the first place.

Why do people resort to suicide in the first place?

[–] dzo-ilic-i 10 years ago

This is brilliant! Thank you :)

[–] MicahFish 10 years ago

Excellent! This answers all my questions.

[–] parisian113086-681-151921 10 years ago

Wow. a++ interpretation

[–] Bigsax 8 years ago

The movie didn't convey any of that to me. Very interesting interpretation though.

[–] shoutingagain2 8 years ago

WOW, this is so good. Saw this movie years ago, don't remember it & it's just starting on TCM now & I was trying to weigh watching it or not again. In fact, after reading your review, I'm not even sure I watched it (I see many movies & forget nearly as many as seen; sadly, they aren't so memorable).

Guess my point is you write as a person who should be composing reviews for a paper. Hope you have such ambition some day. The papers are god-awful much of the time. And lastly, appreciate your insight. I have it on pause but know only 20 minutes into it that you are onto something.
THX!! Don't stop writing(and analyzing) for us anytime soon.

[–] heyteegs (1207) 4 years ago

This is a good read. Thanks.

[–] lombano 11 years ago

After the homecoming thing, the girls were quite literally prisoners in their home, not allowed out for any reason, including school (and there were no signs there was any homeschooling going on - that alone makes the situation illegal and abusive), going on errands, etc, not even if chaperoned or something, and don't have visitors of any sort - a situation that is more extreme than that of women in places like Saudi Arabia. In what universe is that sort of situation normal? In Western countries at least, the only other demographic routinely experiencing that level of confinement are the inmates of prisons and mental wards. Even babies get taken out of the house from time to time. And unless in solitary confinement, even prison inmates probably have at least more contact with their peers than the sisters did (and the mental effects of solitary confinement are well-documented). Even prison inmates are usually allowed to have visitors from time to time, which did not appear to be the case for the Lisbon girls - not even girlfriends from school, not even chaperoned visits, not even adult relatives. Let's cut the cr*p that somehow the parents weren't that strict or something - by the standards of almost any society (certainly modern Western societies, and at least some Third World societies) the situation was pathological. There is much to criticize in both the Lisbon girls and the film, but claiming that their parents are just strict and the sisters' situation isn't really that bad is ludicrous - in some respects it's worse than that of convicted criminals.

[–] DivingIntheBlue 11 years ago

I fully agree with your assessment, lombano. I don't see how anyone can see this film and think that the parents weren't that strict. It's one thing to limit your kids' social lives but they totally flipped out after the Homecoming dance and basically imprisoned the girls for what was a somewhat minor infraction. One of the worst things you can do to a kid (in their mind) is make them stay home all the time. That's why parents ground their kids. It's stifling especially if you don't even get to go to school.

When I first saw this film back when it originally came out, I really didn't "get" it either. As I've gotten older, it is easier to understand why the girls killed themselves. They saw no way out of their situation and were simply tired of living a non-life. I know a lot of people simply cannot fathom that way of thinking but when you're depressed and desperate, death seems like a pretty good option even if you have no idea what is on the other side.

[–] monik_dark_angel 10 years ago

I think the movie isn't really about blaming the parents etc. The movie, from my point of view, is about the loss of innocence and not being able to bare it. I think that's in fact the reason they chose suicide. They were dreamers and once they grew up and the dream world started to disappear, the couldn't live with it. For me it's more of a poetic suicide than a suicide of depression. The author turned the girls into some mythical creatures. And paradoxically, their mere existence and suicide represented for the boys a possibility of dreaming in a world where there is no time for dreams. For the boys, they were the only thing reminding of beauty and innocence and romance, inside an ugly and boring world of adolescence.

[–] [email protected] (690) 7 years ago

I recently viewed this movie, and I am a much older person than many I see commenting here, having read a separate thread discussing this.
One thing I find intriguing about VS is I'm not sure it is trying to tell us anything specifically. It's very moody and mysterious and in parts rather funny. I don't buy the story literally, not at all, but that it's an absorbing tale is a feat in itself, and I enjoy all the discussion it raises.

[–] SweptAway7 14 years ago

ok since this is one of my favorite movies I will help you out. I have also read the book twice which also explains things better.

First off cecila is not some 13 year old bitch. She is a young girl with depression. If you dont have depression (which I am guessing you don't) depression makes you feel things 10 times more extreme than the average person. So it wasnt that she was so insightful she was just more aware of things around her. I myself have depression and its hard to explain but people with depression seem older and are just different in my opinion I dont know how to explain it well.

To your questions

1.Older Trip gets to tell the viewers things we would never get to know especially from the younger Trip. Who obviously was kind of a jerk. We would never know how much Lux had really touched him or his true feelings on what happened. Intimate details that he might not have told his peers in his younger years.

Why the girls were so haunting? Honestly it could be so many things. Keep in mind though this story is coming from teenage boys point of view. Girls are a complete mystery to young guys. Also after the mass suicide I mean C'mon thats pretty serious stuff to have witnessed and carry for life.

2. Why invite the guys to the house? maybe not to be totally alone when they die. Make a statement? who knows the point is your not suppose to know why thats the part that gets people. Not knowing the real reason why the girls did any of the things they did.
In the book it has a line that says something like they invited the guys to show them they did'nt really know anything about them.

Hope that helps

[–] poxy65 14 years ago

thanks

[–] Defenseman13 14 years ago

That "explanation" from someone who holds this movie as one of their favorites goes to prove the OP's statement about the quality of debates on this board and about the movie.

http://us.imdb.com/name/nm2339870/

[–] KaleshaB 14 years ago

I really didn't like how the movie tells you in the beginning, you won't understand this if you haven't been a teenage girl.

I'm not so sure it was so much as that, I think that was just said as an indication of that's how Cecilia felt...just because she said it doesn't necessarily mean that it's true in reality sense. We all know how young teenage girls go through their 'major life problems', & they're biggest excuse for never talking about it or when they do talk about it they already have set in their minds that nobody ever understands them, ESPECIALLY young teens suffering with depression [I, for one can testify towards that myself]. So I can see where SweptAway7 is coming from with that.

I also agree with SweptAway7 in their first post, as well as adding some opinions of my own to the original poster: Your post was very well stated in an extremely intelligent manner to where I highly respect your opinions all the way and towards some things I do agree with you, but as a whole, I think you're looking too far into the movie as far as explanations and symbolic meanings and such. Like SweptAway7 stated, the narrator's [i.e. young boys] point of view of the girls seem a little far-fetched as far as creating this huge deal of mysterious and charismatic features. Of course in reality, the girls ARE indeed normal, but to these boys it's more than that, I mean come on it's common for young teenage boys to be attracted to girls who are INDEED attractive. To them, it was something special about them, and it makes sense for them to still be concerned with it once they are older because it happened when they were younger, therefore it kind of scarred them and they're still wondering.

By the way, when I come to think of it, if something like this happened in real life whereas if I saw something on the news about 5 sisters who all randomly killed themselves, it would strike some sort of mysterious vibe to me too, especially since no one REALLY knows the reason as to why.

Overall, I think I would rate the movie 7.5/10. I wouldn't mind seeing it again :)

[–] Akis77 14 years ago

Honestly, poxy65, this is the first time ANYBODY on these discussion boards has EVER shared my EXACT opinion on a movie! Reading your thoughts on the movie I pictured myself speaking and wondering about some of the irrational and unsatisfying elements of the film!

I enjoyed the movie, as far as cinematography, lights, setting is concerned but in the end I felt like they forgot to reveil some kind of deeper meaning. Something that would satisfy me and let me appreciate the movie as a great body of work.

I liked the movie, it was captivating...but it didnt shock me. At all...

Still rated it a 8/10 though.

Greets from a greek living in Germany :D

[–] Timhollman 14 years ago

I totally agree. I was interested in the movie until the ending when for no apparent reason they invited the boys over to discover their bodies.

I did like the line about how the 13 yr old didn't even have a chance on seeing how bad life gets tho.

I attribute the movies overall crappiness to Sofia Coppola. She sucks something awful and couldn't tell a story if she was a witness in court.

__________________________________________________________________________________
Grandpa, why don't you tell us a story? You've led an interesting life.That's a lie and you know it

[–] MysteryReaderReturns 14 years ago

It isn't Sofia Coppola's fault, if you have read the novel this movie follows it very well. There is no explanation for why they killed themselves, it's just something the boys try to piece together.

If you hate Jesus Christ and are 100% proud of it, copy this and make it your signature!

[–] Timhollman 14 years ago

I understand, but Sofia Colpola sucks anyway

__________________________________________________________________________________
Grandpa, why don't you tell us a story? You've led an interesting life.That's a lie and you know it

[–] superaudreysaves 14 years ago

Did you know The Virgin Suicides is based on a book? Turns out it has a page on sparknotes.com

Try these pages:
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/virginsuicides/canalysis.html
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/virginsuicides/themes.html
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/virginsuicides/quotes.html

I think they will help you a lot. The movie follows the book very, very well.

just sayin.

[–] jfjinca 14 years ago

It's about the stupidest movie I've ever seen. lol!

Who cares about symbolism? If I'm going to enjoy a movie, I want a gradual explanation OF the movie. There were so many holes in this story that my feeling after it ended was, 'What was the point?'

Answer: There wasn't any.

[–] rserrano514 14 years ago

Exactly what is the point? The point is that there is no point. Never is it justifiable to commit suicide, and that is it in a nut shell, while your sitting there in your room watching this movie, your saying to yourself, those girls lives were not that bad, why did they do it?

Just think about this for one second though, in prison some of the inmates will cause harm to themselves because they feel that is the only real power they still maintain. Look at these girl they were almost like prisoners in their own home, the only power they had was the power to take there own lives, and seeing that their sister who suffered from depression committed suicide so what better way to make sure all the sisters would be back together in the after life than by all of them committing suicide.

[–] SweptAway7 14 years ago

Even though this is one of my favorite movies i will agree it does make you want something more.

The book however is great and it offers more, however there is no answer to why they killed themselves and if you dont get that I am sorry but you sadly missed the point of the movie

[–] Bigsax 8 years ago

While this wasn't the stupidest movie I have ever seen, with about a half hour left in the movie I asked myself, is this going anywhere? There wasn't really much of a story. It was kind of lame.

[–] fragmented_psyche 13 years ago

Their suicides were a means of liberation through death. Is life worth living if you are trapped? This was explained through the scenes of Lux *beep* random guys on her roof. Yeah, she was still *beep* (things that she did before she was confined) ... but still, she wasn't satisfied. Why? Because she was trapped.

That is essentially the whole point of the movie - suicide as an exit from a life not worth living (not worth living, at least according to the sisters). This idea was spread to the sisters by Cecilia, which was mirrored excellently through the whole tree-chopping incident. The tree choppers were complaining that if they didn't cut it down, the disease would spread (which it did, if you saw the scene of all the trees with the note stuck on it). This 'disease' was analogous to the idea of death. Cecilia imprinted her hand in the original tree, so she was the originator of the idea of death. The other trees represents her sisters.

How does this relate to the boys? It is a 'mystery' to them because they are to superficial to understand. All they could ever do was muster physical evidence of the sisters existence, but never direct contact (talking). This was a superficial way of getting to know the sisters. This theme of superficiality was further expanded on at the end, when the boys attended the debutante party. It was a trivial matter, with one drunk mocking the sisters; an air of superficiality and fakeness reigned the air of the party. This was to symbolize that these superficial rich people would never understand the philosophically precise decision of the sisters to kill themselves.

Q.E.D

[–] snubby7 13 years ago

It's just an movie about teen malaise and ambiance.
It's kind of boring overall but there's some decent music on the soundtrack.

[–] Noirdame79 13 years ago

This movie is often compared to "Picnic At Hanging Rock" (1975) in which three schoolgirls and a teacher disappear and it's never fully explained. The ending leaves you hanging, to give your own interpretation. I think "The Virgin Suicides" basically comes to that same conclusion - frustrating as it is.

[–] irina-savin 13 years ago

Thanks for recommending Picnic at Hanging Rock, I'm planning to watch it soon. Although I see the similar storyline as only one aspect of the comparison between movies. I don't know if it's just me or not, but I loved Coppola's movie for the amazing powerful ambiance created, more than the story. I'd love to watch something with the same powerful ambiance.

[–] fortunesfool27 13 years ago

at first, i thought the point was that it was pretty anti-christian or anti-evangelicalism. basically, that the ideals of christianity brought on the imprisonment of the girls (which i didn't really like and thought was an unfair portrayal) but yeah, i don't know. you can never really know i guess.

i really liked a previous posters explanation of the tree disease symbolism. i didn't see it that way before, thanks!

i guess its not so much the point as it is being shaken by the idea of 5 random suicides. chaos in the stillness of suburbia?

[–] katharine-sarah 13 years ago

this movie & the book are, i think, about the roles suburbia, gossip, & memory play. nobody really knew the girls... just what they had heard about the girls from various sources (mostly questionable, unreliable, exaggerated, or possibly falsely remembered either over time or due to emotions related to them). it also is about how the boys couldn't get over the fact that they didn't know them, would never really know them, & couldn't help them... the fact that they had been infatuated with them in the end made them blind to knowing who they really were, blind to seeing that they were real people with real emotions, who may or may not have been calling to them for help.