The Virgin Suicides

By Mal -

6 out of 10

Ever since I borrowed a friend’s copy of the soundtrack, I’ve wanted to see this film. Given my love of Air’s music and my weakness for Kirsten Dunst, I knew I had to keep my expectations under control, but it’s still a little disappointing that the film wasn’t able to blow me away.

The Virgin Suicides follows the story of 5 teenage sisters whose eventual demise is telegraphed not only by the film’s title, but by the narration present throughout. The narration itself and its retrospective nature are well judged and work very well to tell the story. However, using the premise of an unsolved mystery doesn’t, in my book, give you licence to create characters whose key actions appear out of character. Having the narrator say, in essence, "Wow. We didn’t see that coming." doesn’t excuse a lack of justifiable build-up.

It’s a pity. Ten minutes or so from the end of the film, I was really enjoying it. And then... bang! It’s over. At only 93 minutes long, it’s not even as if it was dragging on. I would happily have watched another 20 or 30 minutes if it made for a more believable progression. As it was, it was a fine film with plenty of promise and a very natural narration style — possibly the best I’ve heard — but its approach to mystery was... immature; like a kid’s GCSE English coursework. Still love the soundtrack, mind. :)

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