Beautiful, mysterious, haunting, invariably fatal. Just like life.
A group of male friends become obsessed with five mysterious sisters who are sheltered by their strict, religious parents.
- Suicide or self-harm
- Harm to children
- Bleak ending
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Character
Prestige, contemplative, bleak and open-ended.
- unpretentiousprestige
- contemplativerelentless
- warmbleak
- resolvedopen-ended
- gravecomic
Who loves it, who doesn't
26 profiled raters. Loved most by The Prestige Hunters; disliked most by The Formalists.
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“Is the book better?”
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“Is this Sofia Coppola's best work?”
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“Is the slow pace a feature rather than a flaw?”
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A yes-or-no question, answered from what people wrote here, on TMDB and on Wikipedia. Never made up.
Reviews
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Reviews on TMDB
Written by TMDB members; each links to the original. Not part of Tastebuds's numbers.
- CinemaSerfon TMDB · Aug 20237/10
Set amidst 1970s Detroit suburbia, this follows the ultimately tragic lives of five sisters who live with their teacher father (James Woods) and rather possessive mother (Kathleen Turner). It's narrated by one of their neighbours, a youth whom - along with his friends - has a bit of a crush on the girls. Disaster strikes early on when "Cecilia" manages to impale herself on the garden fence and what now ensues follows the family's quirkily poignant and entertaining evolution from this event. Things eventually come to an head when the girls plead with their parents to be allowed to go to a school dance whereupon "Lux" (Kirsten Dunst) and her all-American boyfriend "Trip" (Josh Hartnett) do the deed! Arriving home late, and alone, this causes ructions within the family and drives the young girl off the rails with ghastly consequences. There's a lot of nuance here. The performances from Turner, Dunst and a rather under-stated one from an increasingly effective Woods all help build this to a conclusion that is sadly, in my view, all a bit rushed. The effects of the isolation and loneliness on the all-but-incarcerated girls is there for us to see, but not really to appreciate fully enoug
Read the whole review on TMDB - Wuchakon TMDB · Jun 20198/10
***Artistic, profound, amusing, tragic, haunting coming-of-age in the 70s*** A 13 year-old girl from a Catholic family in a Detroit suburb commits suicide during the late 70s and its effects are shown over the course of the next year in the lives of her four sisters (e.g. Kirsten Dunst), her parents (James Woods & Kathleen Turner) and the boys of the community. Josh Hartnett is on hand as the school stud who’s interested in Lux (Dunst). "The Virgin Suicides" (1999) was Sofia Coppola’s debut film based on the book by Jeffrey Eugenides; she would go on to great success with “Lost in Translation” (2003) and the underrated “Marie Antoinette” (2006). To be expected, Sofia’s style is similar to her father, as well as Peter Weir, but maybe more focused on feminine themes. The tone of the movie is artsy and deep, but not without a sense of humor. It’s haunting, mysterious, beautiful and impenetrable, reminiscent of Weir’s “Picnic at Hanging Rock” (1975). There’s also a great 70’s soundtrack featuring well-placed songs by The Hollies, Heart, Styx, Todd Rundgren and 10cc. The subtext on parental legalism brings to mind “Footloose” (1984), but it’s clear that the blame can’t be placed solely
Read the whole review on TMDB - PimplyChickenon TMDB · Jun 20177/10
A very different movie, enjoyable and engrossing but at the end of it you are left wondering what the point was. Is there a moral here? A life lesson? Or is the movie just telling a quirky story? I'm still not sure. This movie is well acted and is never boring, but it is puzzling.
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Cast
- Kirsten DunstLux Lisbon
- Josh HartnettTrip Fontaine
- James WoodsMr. Lisbon
- Kathleen TurnerMrs. Lisbon
- Michael ParéAdult Trip Fontaine
- A.J. CookMary Lisbon
- Hanna HallCecilia Lisbon
- Leslie HaymanTherese Lisbon
- Chelse SwainBonnie Lisbon
- Giovanni RibisiNarrator (voice)
Crew
- Sofia CoppolaDirector
- Sofia CoppolaScreenplay
- Jeffrey EugenidesNovel
- Edward LachmanDirector of Photography
- Jean-Benoît DunckelOriginal Music Composer
- Nicolas GodinOriginal Music Composer
- Melissa KentEditor
- James LyonsEditor
- Dan HalstedProducer
- Chris HanleyProducer
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Pairings
Companions we picked from the closest works, and how to take them.
Similar in taste
Closest on the same fourteen dimensions, from everything scored on Tastebuds Other media included when they land close.
All About Lily Chou-Chou 200184% alikeBoth prestige, contemplative, bleak.
Inside Llewyn Davis 201382% alikeBoth prestige, contemplative.
Black Narcissus 194781% alikeBoth prestige, contemplative.
Ida 201380% alikeBoth prestige, contemplative.
Maria 202480% alikeBoth contemplative, prestige.
This Must Be the Place 201178% alikeBoth prestige, contemplative.
The Company of Wolves 198477% alikeBoth contemplative.
The French Lieutenant's Woman 198177% alikeBoth prestige, contemplative.
Mad Men 200775% alikeTelevision · Both contemplative.
The Remains of the Day 198972% alikeBook · Both contemplative, prestige.
Often watched with
Recommendations from TMDB. Opening one adds it to Tastebuds
