Director: Sofia Coppola
MPAA Rating: R
Runtime: 97 Minutes
Purchase: Amazon
Sofia Coppola’s masterful feature debut, The Virgin Suicides, has just been released by the Criterion Collection, and if you haven’t yet seen this beautiful, tragic film, now is the best time to pick it up.
Released in 1999, the film is based on the novel of the same name written by Jeffrey Eugenides and follows the lives of five sisters living under the rule of their overbearing, extremely religious mother and complicit father in mid-1970s Detroit. After the suicide of their youngest sibling, the girls struggle to live normal lives as they enter adolescence under the sometimes tyrannical thumb of their mother, played by Kathleen Turner.
With excellent narration by Giovanni Ribisi, the girls’ story is told through the eyes of a neighbor boy, who, along with his friends, shared a fascination and a unique connection to the girls.
Having just rewatched it for the first time in years, I found myself just as enthralled and moved even though I had seen it several times over. From the excellent soundtrack and wonderful, though overused, Air song that plays throughout to the stunning cinematography by Edward Lachman, this is a near-perfect viewing experience for me.
Lachman supervised the Criterion Collection 4K digital restoration of the film for this Blu-ray, which looks absolutely flawless, as one would come to expect from Criterion. Sofia Coppola also approved the restoration, so we can be sure this is the look the director intended us to see.
The supplements on the disc include new interviews with the cast and crew; a 1998 making-of documentary; Lick The Star, the 1998 short film Coppola made before beginning production on The Virgin Suicides; the music video for Air’s Playground Love; and the trailers for the film. While not packed to the brim like some Criterion releases, what we have here is quite good, especially the inclusion of the short film and the new interviews. One major lacking element is an audio commentary track, which is a big bummer but certainly not a deal breaker.
In its tradition of providing fantastic packaging, the box art for this Criterion release is top notch, and there’s a fold-out insert containing stills and a new essay by novelist Megan Abbott.
A welcome addition to the Criterion library, The Virgin Suicides has all the makings of a true classic. It’s a timeless, beautifully executed story that now has the proper home release that it so sorely deserved.
