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The Virgin Suicides has been released in a 4K Restoration almost 25 years after its original cinema outing (and this is my first time, so be gentle…), the story, itself, taking place “25 years ago” (albeit in 1974), and centred around five teenage girls, the oldest being Lux (Kirsten Dunst – Melancholia), down to the youngest, Cecilia (Hanna Hall, who played the young Jenny in Forrest Gump).
But first, we had an intro from screenwriter/director Sofia Coppola (On The Rocks, as well as starring in The Outsiders), thanking everyone for coming out to the cinema to see this 4K version! Obviously, things were difficult for cinemas during the pandemic, but thanks to whoever came up with ‘Barbenheimer‘, cinemas have been jam-packed for both Oppenheimer and Barbie!
However, things are not in a good place for the Lisbon family, since young Cecilia has already tried to take her own life by the time this film begins, and I’ll only conclude her story, but following a very awkward party at the house, she unfortunately succeeds with a further attempt.
Following this, Lux begins to have a relationship with the lad in school who every girl is crazy about, Trip Fontaine (Josh Hartnett) – who also gives a vox pop interview in the ‘present day’, where he’s played by Michael Paré – but parents James Woods (Salvador) and Kathleen Turner become incredibly restrictive about what their girls can and can’t do in the light of Cecilia’s sad passing.
The Virgin Suicides felt like quite a mixed bag on my first viewing. While most of the cast are pretty reliable, at the time of Cecilia’s death, there was some severe underacting from Kathleen Turner, as she just stands there, while later, she acts like a complete bitch to the girls, as they impose their own form of lockdown. Woods is his usual, reliable self, though, even though in more recent times, he’s been cancelled because he dares to be pro-Trump. Wow, imagine having a different view from the narrow-minded mainstream media, eh?
There was also the occasional bit of humour, such as when the homecoming dance is coming up, the girls all have different dresses, but once adapted by their mother, there comes the comment how they all look like “four identical sacks”.
The dialogue was also very quiet early on. I’m not sure if that was the print or the film itself, since it did increase in volume later. It was in screen 11 at Didsbury, which has been a bit quiet before on occasion, but rarely do the staff ever correct anything mid-performance.
With narration by Giovanni Ribisi (Avatar: The Way Of Water), at first, I wasn’t quite feeling this, but it did start to grow on me, and it has quite a finale, along with wonderful music from Air. Perhaps additional viewings will help. Interestingly, I see the 4K disc already released on March 13th this year, so I’m wondering why it took another four months to get a cinema release.
The Virgin Suicides is available to buy on 4K Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 97 minutes
Release date: July 28th 2023 (4K Restoration)
Studio: Studiocanal
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 (35mm)
Cinema: Cineworld Didsbury
Rating: 7/10
Director: Sofia Coppola
Producers: Francis Ford Coppola, Julie Costanzo, Dan Halsted, Chris Hanley
Screenplay: Sofia Coppola
Novel: Jeffrey Eugenides
Music: Air
Cast:
Mr. Lisbon: James Woods
Mrs. Lisbon: Kathleen Turner
Lux Lisbon: Kirsten Dunst
Trip Fontaine: Josh Hartnett
Adult Trip Fontaine: Michael Pare
Father Moody: Scott Glenn
Dr. Horniker: Danny DeVito
Mary Lisbon: AJ Cook
Cecilia Lisbon: Hanna Hall
Therese Lisbon: Leslie Hayman
Bonnie Lisbon: Chelse Swain
Narrator: Giovanni Ribisi
Chase Buell: Anthony Desimone
David Barker: Lee Kagan
Paul Baldino: Robert Schwartzman
Parkie Denton: Noah Shebib
Tim Weiner: Jonathan Tucker
Kevin Head: Joe Roncetti
Jake Hill Conley: Hayden Christensen
Peter Sisten: Chris Hale
Dominic Palazzolo: Joe Dinicol
Lydia Perl: Suki Kaiser
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.