The Virgin Suicides
The Virgin Suicides - A Humanistic Look at Teenage Suicide
"What are you doing here, honey? You're not even old enough to know how bad life gets."
"Obviously, Doctor, you've never been a 13-year-old girl."
This exchange between Cecilia, the youngest of the Lisbon Sisters, and her doctor after she fails to commit suicide sets the tone to this poetic and existential reflection on teenagehood, society, and suicide. In The Virgin Suicides, we follow the story of the Lisbon Sisters, the daughters of a conservative family that lives in an American suburb, near Detroit, during the 70's, from the point of view of the boys that fell in love with them. Sofia Coppola has one of the best debut feature films in the history of cinema, brilliantly tackling the issue of teenage suicide in one of the most humane, beautiful, and respectful ways ever done in film. In an era dominated by sensationalism, glorification, and misrepresentation around this issue, it is important to look back to this masterpiece to see a truly meaningful message about teenage suicide. Because if this, The Virgin Suicides is probably more important now than when it premiered for the way it deals with such a sensitive issue in such a humane way.
This story is told to us as a memory from a group of boys who become obsessed with a group of girls from their neighborhood, the Lisbon Sisters. It's set during the 70's, and this period is shown through a nostalgic filter, creating an almost dream-like atmosphere that makes it seem as if we are seeing the memory of someone. The boys try to understand the girls, they want to understand these mysterious girls and what led them to put an end to their lives. Like them, we try to understand these mysterious girls, trying to put all the puzzle pieces together. But will we be able to understand their hormone-infused, barely formed, young minds?
Cecilia, 13. Lux, 14. Bonnie, 15. Mary, 16. Therese, 17. These are the Lisbon Sisters, the subjects of the boys' desire and curiosity, and the central pieces of this reflective story. They are almost ethereal beings, representations of purity. They are played by Hannah Hall, Kirsten Dunst, Chelse Swain, A.J. Cook and Leslie Hayman, respectively.
The first one to attempt suicide is Cecilia, the youngest. This is how the film starts. Immediately, we are faced with this ever-present theme. "What happened? Why did she try to kill herself? She's just a little girl!", we may ask ourselves. All throughout the film, adults struggle to understand the teenagers and why would they want to put an end to their lives - After all, like Cecilia's doctor said, they don't know how bad life gets. But, do they?
Adults treat teenagers as if they are still innocent children, and they treat them as if they are a part of some strange alien species, but they aren't. These girls, just like all teenagers, are more than that. They are women in disguise, who understand love, life, and death. This is brilliantly said in one of the most beautiful lines of the film, which I won't try to paraphrase: "We knew the girls were really women in disguise, that they understood love, and even death, and that our job was merely to create the noise that seemed to fascinate them."
Teenage suicide isn't a simple issue and we can't undervalue and ignore what teenagers feel. There aren't simple answers to it. There aren't thirteen reasons why. This film perfectly portrays this. It doesn't try to give answers, it tries to comprehend and explore the complexity of the teenage mind. What leads to these girls to commit suicide? What went on their minds? What goes on the mind of a teenager that could lead them to decide to end their lives? Is it a problem in themselves as individuals? Or is it a problem in society? These are the questions raised by Sofia Coppola, as she invites us to reflect on teenage suicide in a non-sensationalistic, comprehensive way.
In fact, the sensationalism that the media gives this issue is heavily criticized all throughout The Virgin Suicides, with the constant appearances of Lydia Perl, a reporter covering the incident, and the interviews that appear on televisions at various moments during the film. These reporter and interviewers aren't trying to find a solution to the issue. They sensationalize it so that they make the most amount of money possible, exploiting inhumanely the suffering of people who are confused and depressed about life. The discussion shown on television is the complete opposite of humane and only serves to parody the issue and aggravate the problem.
One of the main reasons that can be found for the depression of the Lisbon Sisters - and most teens - is the disillusionment with the real world and society. All throughout the film, there's a constant presence of death. This is not just because of the theme of the film, but also because of the presence in the film of climate change, the dying elm trees in the neighborhood because of a fungus brought from Europe, the increasing number of animal species going extinct, the dying car industry in America, the dying American middle class. The world presented in this film is a dying, harsh, bleak, and depressing one. A world moved by money and not humanism. A world worried about profits while ignoring its declining health and bleak future. The real world. This world is not the one teenagers expected to find. The realization that the world is not what they idealized it would be when they were children is what causes their disillusionment and depression. They are shown to be more sensitive to this than adults. Adults lead a fairly oblivious life. Teens don't and are left alone, without being heard. In such a world, why would anyone want to live? This is probably what was going on the Lisbon Sisters' minds.
It's interesting to note that Cecilia, the youngest, was the first to kill herself. Even though she's the youngest, she's the first one to show disillusionment with the world. She's obsessed with elm trees and animals and their dying numbers. She likes to write in her diary, writing reflections and poetry, indicating she may be more sensitive than the other sisters. She probably was the biggest dreamer of the five sisters. In the short time she's on screen, she doesn't show enthusiasm or a willingness to live. The other sisters seem to be oblivious to this. However, when Cecilia successfully commits suicide, the "poison" spreads into the air and infects the others. Shortly after, the others also start to shown signs of depression - this is very apparent in a group picture with other students, where everyone else has smiles on their faces while the sisters seem bored and distant.
The most central and interesting of the sisters, Lux - played by Kirsten Dunst, who completely steals the show in one of her best performances ever - may give a clue to another reason for their suicides. Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon - played by James Woods and Kathleen Turner, respectively - are very conservative, especially the mother. They don't allow the girls to go out on dates and heavily restrict their contact with boys. Lux is the rebel of the sisters. She constantly defies her parents and wants to explore her sexuality and the world. She's a dreamer (they are all dreamers - after all, aren't we all?).
There are two moments when the Lisbon parents concede to their daughters and give them freedom. The first time, just before Cecilia kills herself, they allow them to throw a party and invite some boys. The second time, they allow them to go to a school ball. These moments allow the girls to live and explore themselves and their surroundings, with Lux being the most eager and less naïve. However, the contrast between these moments of freedom and the moments of restraint only contribute to the added suffering felt by the girls. The last one is the most extreme and consequential.
After Lux fails to make curfew, Mrs. Lisbon implements a severe crackdown on the girls' freedom. They aren't allowed to leave the house, not even for school, and Mrs. Lisbon forces Lux to burn her Rock albums. They are completely shut out from the outside world. This is the last nail in the coffin.
Despite this authoritarian environment, Lux is still able to practice her rebellion by having sex with random men on the roof of her house (it's unclear how she manages to find them, but she's an extremely resourceful girl). However, they are already out of reach from the world. Their disillusionment with society has reached its tipping point. "I can't breathe in here", says Lux.
Nonetheless, maybe as a last cry for help, maybe as a way to reach out for the last time, they start making light signals to the boys, who have been observing them. They are the last slim connection that these girls have with the outside world. The boys had been reading the same magazines that the girls ordered so that they could make a connection with them. Read the same pages they were reading, imagine the same places they were imagining. After the boys notice the girls' signals, they phone them. They put on music and they start a routine of sharing music with the girls, listening to the same music. They make a connection. What is strange about this is what happens next.
The girls invite the boys to their house, through messages sent to them, to help them escape. When the girls send the signal, we hear them breathing almost claustrophobically ("I can't breathe in here"). The boys go to their house and find Luc in the living room. She lets them in the house and tells the boys to wait for her sisters while she waits for them in her father's car. As the boys are waiting for the other girls, they realize that they have killed themselves.
Why did the girls invite the boys if they were going to kill themselves? Why did they even make a connection with them? Did they want to be found by people who understood them? Was it just a final fantasy from their dreamy minds? Was it a last cry for help?
"None of my daughters lacked for any love, there was plenty of love in our household. I never understood why", says Mrs. Lisbon. Maybe love isn't enough. Maybe it was too much love, too suffocating. Maybe what lacked wasn't love, but understanding, compassion, and freedom.
There aren't clear answers or reasons in this film. This is because this is not a simple issue. As I said, it is simply not possible to point out thirteen reasons why. It's too complex for that. What the film asks us to be comprehensive and compassionate. After the incident, the adults treat it as something trivial and even ridiculous. "I'm a teenager, I have problems", mocks one of them. Teenagers may not have to deal with financial problems and big responsibilities, they may be spoiled by their parents and not completely comprehend how the world works, but we can't and shouldn't undervalue and ridicule the importance of their problems. What might seem trivial for adults may be an existential question of life and death for teens. They aren't just boys and girls, they are men and women in disguise.
Sofia Coppola asks us to use our own brains to think about teenage suicide - and suicide in general - without spoon feeding us answers that most times have nothing to do with reality. She shows the world seen by these girls with big dreams as it is, with nothing put into it. She shows us the problems present in our society that may be leading to this epidemic that is more present today than ever. Coppola tells us that maybe we shouldn't be looking for justifications in the individual teenagers, but we should look at our society in general and look at the way it treats teenagers. This film is a huge mirror of our modern world. Perhaps, if more people watched this masterpiece instead of a certain sensationalist Netflix series, there would be far greater understanding about this issue.
The trees, like lungs, filling with air.
My sister - the mean one - pulling my hair.
Teenage suicide isn't a simple issue and we can't undervalue and ignore what teenagers feel. There aren't simple answers to it. There aren't thirteen reasons why. This film perfectly portrays this. It doesn't try to give answers, it tries to comprehend and explore the complexity of the teenage mind. What leads to these girls to commit suicide? What went on their minds? What goes on the mind of a teenager that could lead them to decide to end their lives? Is it a problem in themselves as individuals? Or is it a problem in society? These are the questions raised by Sofia Coppola, as she invites us to reflect on teenage suicide in a non-sensationalistic, comprehensive way.
In fact, the sensationalism that the media gives this issue is heavily criticized all throughout The Virgin Suicides, with the constant appearances of Lydia Perl, a reporter covering the incident, and the interviews that appear on televisions at various moments during the film. These reporter and interviewers aren't trying to find a solution to the issue. They sensationalize it so that they make the most amount of money possible, exploiting inhumanely the suffering of people who are confused and depressed about life. The discussion shown on television is the complete opposite of humane and only serves to parody the issue and aggravate the problem.
One of the main reasons that can be found for the depression of the Lisbon Sisters - and most teens - is the disillusionment with the real world and society. All throughout the film, there's a constant presence of death. This is not just because of the theme of the film, but also because of the presence in the film of climate change, the dying elm trees in the neighborhood because of a fungus brought from Europe, the increasing number of animal species going extinct, the dying car industry in America, the dying American middle class. The world presented in this film is a dying, harsh, bleak, and depressing one. A world moved by money and not humanism. A world worried about profits while ignoring its declining health and bleak future. The real world. This world is not the one teenagers expected to find. The realization that the world is not what they idealized it would be when they were children is what causes their disillusionment and depression. They are shown to be more sensitive to this than adults. Adults lead a fairly oblivious life. Teens don't and are left alone, without being heard. In such a world, why would anyone want to live? This is probably what was going on the Lisbon Sisters' minds.
It's interesting to note that Cecilia, the youngest, was the first to kill herself. Even though she's the youngest, she's the first one to show disillusionment with the world. She's obsessed with elm trees and animals and their dying numbers. She likes to write in her diary, writing reflections and poetry, indicating she may be more sensitive than the other sisters. She probably was the biggest dreamer of the five sisters. In the short time she's on screen, she doesn't show enthusiasm or a willingness to live. The other sisters seem to be oblivious to this. However, when Cecilia successfully commits suicide, the "poison" spreads into the air and infects the others. Shortly after, the others also start to shown signs of depression - this is very apparent in a group picture with other students, where everyone else has smiles on their faces while the sisters seem bored and distant.
The most central and interesting of the sisters, Lux - played by Kirsten Dunst, who completely steals the show in one of her best performances ever - may give a clue to another reason for their suicides. Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon - played by James Woods and Kathleen Turner, respectively - are very conservative, especially the mother. They don't allow the girls to go out on dates and heavily restrict their contact with boys. Lux is the rebel of the sisters. She constantly defies her parents and wants to explore her sexuality and the world. She's a dreamer (they are all dreamers - after all, aren't we all?).
There are two moments when the Lisbon parents concede to their daughters and give them freedom. The first time, just before Cecilia kills herself, they allow them to throw a party and invite some boys. The second time, they allow them to go to a school ball. These moments allow the girls to live and explore themselves and their surroundings, with Lux being the most eager and less naïve. However, the contrast between these moments of freedom and the moments of restraint only contribute to the added suffering felt by the girls. The last one is the most extreme and consequential.
After Lux fails to make curfew, Mrs. Lisbon implements a severe crackdown on the girls' freedom. They aren't allowed to leave the house, not even for school, and Mrs. Lisbon forces Lux to burn her Rock albums. They are completely shut out from the outside world. This is the last nail in the coffin.
Despite this authoritarian environment, Lux is still able to practice her rebellion by having sex with random men on the roof of her house (it's unclear how she manages to find them, but she's an extremely resourceful girl). However, they are already out of reach from the world. Their disillusionment with society has reached its tipping point. "I can't breathe in here", says Lux.
Nonetheless, maybe as a last cry for help, maybe as a way to reach out for the last time, they start making light signals to the boys, who have been observing them. They are the last slim connection that these girls have with the outside world. The boys had been reading the same magazines that the girls ordered so that they could make a connection with them. Read the same pages they were reading, imagine the same places they were imagining. After the boys notice the girls' signals, they phone them. They put on music and they start a routine of sharing music with the girls, listening to the same music. They make a connection. What is strange about this is what happens next.
The girls invite the boys to their house, through messages sent to them, to help them escape. When the girls send the signal, we hear them breathing almost claustrophobically ("I can't breathe in here"). The boys go to their house and find Luc in the living room. She lets them in the house and tells the boys to wait for her sisters while she waits for them in her father's car. As the boys are waiting for the other girls, they realize that they have killed themselves.
Why did the girls invite the boys if they were going to kill themselves? Why did they even make a connection with them? Did they want to be found by people who understood them? Was it just a final fantasy from their dreamy minds? Was it a last cry for help?
"None of my daughters lacked for any love, there was plenty of love in our household. I never understood why", says Mrs. Lisbon. Maybe love isn't enough. Maybe it was too much love, too suffocating. Maybe what lacked wasn't love, but understanding, compassion, and freedom.
There aren't clear answers or reasons in this film. This is because this is not a simple issue. As I said, it is simply not possible to point out thirteen reasons why. It's too complex for that. What the film asks us to be comprehensive and compassionate. After the incident, the adults treat it as something trivial and even ridiculous. "I'm a teenager, I have problems", mocks one of them. Teenagers may not have to deal with financial problems and big responsibilities, they may be spoiled by their parents and not completely comprehend how the world works, but we can't and shouldn't undervalue and ridicule the importance of their problems. What might seem trivial for adults may be an existential question of life and death for teens. They aren't just boys and girls, they are men and women in disguise.
Sofia Coppola asks us to use our own brains to think about teenage suicide - and suicide in general - without spoon feeding us answers that most times have nothing to do with reality. She shows the world seen by these girls with big dreams as it is, with nothing put into it. She shows us the problems present in our society that may be leading to this epidemic that is more present today than ever. Coppola tells us that maybe we shouldn't be looking for justifications in the individual teenagers, but we should look at our society in general and look at the way it treats teenagers. This film is a huge mirror of our modern world. Perhaps, if more people watched this masterpiece instead of a certain sensationalist Netflix series, there would be far greater understanding about this issue.
The trees, like lungs, filling with air.
My sister - the mean one - pulling my hair.
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