The Virgin Suicides (1999) Directed by Sophia Coppola Cast:

James Woods Ronald Lisbon Kathleen Turner Mrs. Lisbon Lux Lisbon Josh Hartnett Trip Fontaine Michael Paré Adult Trip Fontaine Scott Glenn Father Moody Danny DeVito Dr. E.M. Horniker A.J. Cook Mary Lisbon Hanna Hall Cecilia Lisbon Leslie Hayman Therese Lisbon

Chelse Swain Bonnie Lisbon

Anthony DeSimone Chase Buell

Lee Kagan David Barker Robert Schwartzman Paul Baldino Giovanni Ribisi Narrator Screening Questions: 1. If this is the story of 5 adolescent girls and their eventual suicides, what is the effect of having the story told by adolescent boys (or rather an adult representative of those boys)? How does the use of a “masculine” voice over frame this very “feminine” story? And who is the “we” of the narration referring to? 2. On a related note, is this film the story of the Lisbon sisters or of the boys’ obsession with the Lisbon sisters? And do you think every scene stems from the boys’ real (and imagined) knowledge of the girls’ lives? Or does the film become omniscient (all knowing) at certain points? 3. How does the foreknowledge that all 5 Lisbon sisters will eventually kill themselves (it’s the title of the film) shape the way that you watch and understand the film? 4. Note the film’s use of contemporary top 40 hits. How are these songs used? What is their effect? When are the songs diegetic and when are they non-diegetic? 5. What is the role or function of diegetic music in the lives of the film’s characters? How is music used in pivotal scenes such as: Cecilia’s post-suicide party, the homecoming dance, the burning of Lux’s records and the phone calls between the boys and girls. 6. What does this film have to say about memory and nostalgia? Is it significant, for example, that this story is told in hindsight, by an adult narrator? 7. Why is Trip the only character we meet in the present day? 8. What is the significance of the dying trees motif that pops up throughout the film? 9. Is this a “women’s” film (a film directed by a woman, starring women and dealing with “women’s issues”)? How so? And is this at all complicated by the fact that the film is a (very faithful) adaptation of a novel by a man, ? Would this film have been different if it were directed by a man? How?