I'm a self-proclaimed film girlie

Disclaimer: I was born and raised in a family of cinephiles so I take cinema very seriously

Today’s film is “The Virgin suicides”, 1999 by Sofia Coppola. I recently rewatched it and I was even more amazed than the first time (maybe because the first time I had to watch it in spanish). Anyways, I payed attention to more details, thanks Sofia for being such a thorough director. Details on both the direction of photography/cinematography, the scenery, the clothes. Everything was connected in a way either with the book  or with how Coppola had directed her previous projects.

Now lets get serious, here is may review from letterboxd: 

• “Everything about this movie is so great. The soundtrack is amazing, the cinematography is delightful, direction is on point, the details and references to the book are incredible. I know it's not a movie to romanticize but as someone who was a girl through ages 13 to 17, the Lisbon sisters are so relatable in the crudest and most pungent way. Also I hate boys, they ruin everything”
  

I really want to talk on detail about how I said that this movie is clearly not one to romanticize (although it is misinterpreted by many) I don’t consider myself one of those since I can see the grotesque, mundane feelings that the Lisbon sister are hiding behind their teenager masquerades. That is also something that I admire of the work of Sofia on this film and the film as a whole, most of the time you are seeing the sisters as people with very simple lives. Basically not as complicated characters. But there are some specific situations where you can see through that “perfect girl” mask. I don’t know if that’s something that we can commonly agree on or if it has to do with my own experiences of being a teenage girl. Being a teenage girl struggling in this world is actually very hard, since people (generally the older ones) don’t believe you or expect you to act differently. On the other side (mostly by people around your age) they take it either as an aesthetic (ex. The bedrotting trend) or make it out into a competition. This story encapsulates perfectly both sides, the first one with the adults of the film, their parents, the neighbors, even the doctors. The fact that the girls could be struggling didn’t even cross their minds, and once there were signs (ex Cecilia’s attempt) they didn’t believe it to be that deep because of their young age. With the second case, the first scenario, the romanticizing one, it is so well shown through the boys obsession with the sisters. They were so enchanted with them for the fact that they were girls that they couldn’t see further. For them they were just a hobby (watch them, read their diaries, etc). The only people able to get the girls inside this  virgin suicides universe were themselves. The sisters only had each other to rely on. But there is a slight problem with being understood by someone that is also struggling, most of the times the coping and things on that line are not good, at all. That being said the sµ!cide in this film is neither romanticized nor demonized, it is just shown in a way that we can feel both, with a very delicate cinematography, with nice ambient music and soothing colors, but with a very tragic outcome. 

I could write more about this topic but I’m thinking so many things at the same tie that it’s hard to write all. I think I covered the topics that I was most interested about.

Greetings, jou