Playground Love - The Virgin Suicides
September 28th 2006 00:46
Copyright Paramount Classics 2000
This film looks beautiful. The girls are beautiful, the saturated colour is beautiful, it feels like a dream. It’s difficult not to refer to the book when talking about this film because Sophia Coppola kept the script so close to the book, virtually taking out passages and dialogue directly from it and forming it into a screenplay. And Coppola really manages to bring Jeffrey Eugenides story to life here.
James Wood’s performance as the impotent, doting father is a heartbreaker and you can’t help but feel sorry for Kathleen Turner as the overbearing mother. Josh Hartnett is probably my least favourite, although cute as a button. He is cast as Trip Fontaine, and gives a somewhat forced and quietly awkward performance as the love gun that breaks Lux Lisbon’s heart. Perhaps this was intentional; however, it didn’t ever seem as if he fully settled into the role. The five Lisbon girls, however, did a fantastic job, some of them never having acted prior to this film. They managed to really exude a sense of sisterhood that was probably thanks to extensive rehearsal time and the openness and willingness of youth.
When I read The Virgin Suicides I couldn’t put it down. It is such an intriguing, mysterious journey that reads like poetry. It literally made my knees weak. And the grip Eugenides had on what it is like to be a young, teenage girl was absolutely absorbing. It was as if he had climbed into the adolescent minds of young blossoming girls the world over and stolen all their secrets. That’s great writing and I would recommend the book to anyone who enjoyed the film. I think it’s actually better than the film.
The sense of loss and despair and discovery in this film/book is overwhelming. Set at the end of an era and in a suburban neighbourhood strewn with dying trees, it is a sobering tale about the dreaminess/ darkness of youth and the reality of adulthood. It is a character driven piece, which in this case makes it all the more fascinating because the main characters are five fascinating, mysterious girls and the boys serve as more of a happy distraction than anything else. After seeing this film and hopefully, reading this book, you’ll think it’s a wonder any of us make it through adolescence at all.
P.S. The orginal score by Air is evidently depressing but tragically beautiful and the melancholy theme, Playground Love is worth the thirty bucks you'll pay for it.
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Comment by Sisi
Comment by Shani
Comment by Emma
Comment by Adrian
Philosophy Blog
Something about leaving a good-looking corpse?
It's always seemed to me similar to Picnic at Hanging Rock...
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
A modern day classic that much like Picnic at Hanging Rock gets more complex and heartfelt with every screening.
I am surprised ai havent got around to reviewing this one on my blog, shame.