Review – The Virgin Suicides

Francis Ford Coppola’s daughter takes the helm of this odd little movie about the fragility and inscrutability of adolescent girls. To her credit, Sofia Coppola is at least a little better as a writer/director than she was as an actor. After the youngest daughter of five in a family with unusually strict codes of behavior commits suicide, the remaining four girls (headed by Kirsten Dunst) try to achieve some sense of normalcy. Torn between their strict parents, social pressure and their own desires, all four eventually follow their sister’s lead. Though this isn’t a bad film, a lot of the plot twists and character developments that must have been intended to be “enigmatic” turn out neither clever nor amusing enough to merit the title. Perhaps current and former female teens will have a different take on this than I did, but I found it somewhat diverting but little more. Mildly amusing