CATCHING THE SUN
WITH THE VIRGIN SUICIDES, SOFIA COPPOLA CREATED AN EVOCATIVE, DREAMY PIECE OF MEL ANCHOLIA THAT L AUNCHED MULTIPLE CAREERS. WITH SOME PHOTOS TO JOG THE MEMORY, SHE LOOKS BACK AT A MODERN CLASSIC
WORDS CHRISTINA NEWLAND
The Virgin Suicides was an audacious debut from the then 29-year-old filmmaker Sofia Coppola. Adapted from Jeffrey Eugenides’ 1993 novel, the 1999 adaptation told the story of the Lisbons, five teenage sisters living in the 1970s Midwest, their repressed, strictly religious parents who refuse to let them date, and the terrible repercussions. Coppola made a film that was all dreamy lassitude, intimations of teen sexuality and repression, with disturbing violence and an overtly feminine aesthetic. It also offered the first mature role for luminous 16-year-old lead Kirsten Dunst, who had up until then really only played more childlike characters.
Although Coppola’s thematic interests and visual approach have evolved over her career, her fascination with the dark underside of girlhood remains omnipresent in her work, and you can find it in everything from 2013’s The Bling Ring to 2010’s Somewhere. Dunst and Coppola, meanwhile, would remain close both personally and creatively, teaming up again for 2006’s Marie Antoinette and 2017’s The Beguiled.