5. The Virgin Suicides (1999)
Adapted from the Jeffrey Eugenides novel of the same name, The Virgin Suicides revolves around the strict Catholic Lisbon family and the neighbourhood boys' fascination with their five daughters - Therese, Mary, Bonnie, Lux and Cecilia. The youngest sister Cecilia slits her wrists in the bath, but survives. Her parents hold a party to make her feel better but she jumps to her death out of the window during the party. Following this, the Lisbon family become more secretive and strict about their daughters. In the new school term, Lux has a romance with school heart throb Trip Fontaine. He tries to persuade Mr Lisbon to let him date Lux. They go to the homecoming dance and are kinged Queen and King. Later on, they have sex with each other on the football pitch. Trip abandons Lux and she shamefully has to take a taxi home. Due to the breaking of the curfew, the girls' annoyed parents take them out of school and confine them to the house. They can only communicate with the boys via light flashing and the telephone. Lux begins having anonymous sexual adventures on the roof of the house. Months go by and the boys are invited over to the house. They find Lux in the sitting room having a smoke. They wander into the basement to find Bonnie hanging. Upon going upstairs, the boys find the rest of the girls dead - they had a suicide pact. Devastated by the loss of their daughters, the Lisbons move away pretty quickly. In a yard sale, photos of the girls are there and the boys take them. A young couple move into the house and everyone acts like nothing has happened but the voiceover makes it clear that the boys will never forget the Lisbon girls and they will forever be intrigued and baffled at their demise. The film is beautiful and there is some gorgeous cinematography to feast your eyes upon. The parents in the film are peculiar but not particularly monstrous. It is a total mystery movie - why do the girls commit suicide? Adolescent girls in the prime of youth. Were their parents so stifling that thy had to kill themselves? Would they ever escape the parent's tyranny? The girls are the target of the neighbourhood boys who spy on them, talk to them on the phone and write letters to them. Even years after they die, the narrator says that they will always wonder about the girls and think back to them. I'm not exactly sure why the girls all kill themselves. If you know why, please fill me in below. I've said it once and I'll say it again - it's a mystery...