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Even though there are five girls, the one focused on most is the second-youngest, Lux, played excellently by Peter “Spider-Man” Parker’s girlfriend Kirsten Dunst. Lux, who I see as the most interesting character, is hardly a virgin by the time of suicide, having sex on her rooftop so much that the boys spying even make popcorn for the almost nightly event. Lux is the most dynamic of the cross-bearing daughters given that she is not afraid of life outside of her parents' rules. She's also the clear leader of the pack. Lux is the center of attraction for the school’s football star and self-declared heartthrob, Tripp Fontaine. We get introduced to Tripp with a nod to one of my favorite comedies, The Graduate, with him floating in a pool during a hilarious montage of his girl-having ways. Their short romance is what leads to the domino effect of the suicides after Tripp convinces the uptight parents to let the girls attend Homecoming. But a broken curfew later leads to the house lockdown. And I thought my parents were tough.

So what do you do if you are the offspring of an iconic director trying to make a mark on the same industry with a last name so famous it is as synonymous with movies as Hollywood? You take a risk and show some guts. That is exactly what Sofia Coppola did when she decided to direct and adapt the screenplay. While I think that when adapting a book it should be as close to the source material as possible, Coppola might have done better straying away a bit in terms of tone and style. While the dark humor might have one expect that this is Mean Girls, instead of having a "being hit by a bus" suicide, the tinges of comedy are too infrequent to seem natural and the sometimes hokey camerawork ruins the pacing of a scene for a misfired attempt at humor. For example, we not only hear but also see that Lux actually writes her crushes names on her underwear thanks to “X-ray vision.”

Where Coppola does succeed is at intimate moments with scenes involving just a few characters and dialogue, able to include the viewer as a member of the conversation, instead of an observer watching. I appreciated the intimacy given the literally dire thematic material involved. In a country where over 60% of teens seriously contemplate suicide, 9% have attempted it at least once and it is the 11th leading cause of death for all Americans (according to the Centers for Disease Control), The Virgin Suicides grim tale is definitely with us now more than ever for its thoughtful yet emotionally lacking look into the subject that both sexes can appreciate, thanks to the gender-perspective narrating.

Virgin has seemingly slipped through the cracks, after the much better teen-suicide, based-on-a-book, dark-humored drama of 1999, Girl, Interrupted, won over audiences and accolades. However, what keeps this film out of the retail store dollar bin is the great performances Coppola wrings from her lead actors. Dunst, an actress who always brings a little something extra to a role, holds the screen against her five other sisters, being vulnerable on the inside while a “stone fox” on the outside. The film also introduced early-2000s it-boy Josh Hartnett, who isn’t given much to do but flirt, yet he gives some of the films funniest moments, like when asking his gay father's advice on picking up a girl – a needless scene but one that breaks up the tension. Kathleen Turner (in one of her last roles on the big screen before fully focusing on stage work) and James Woods steal scenes as the girls buttoned-up overly bearing Christian parents who confine the girls. Where Coppola fails in the screenplay is giving her characters depth, something that if done could have easily given Turner and Woods chances at an Oscar, an award that has eluded both of them in their lengthy careers. Coppola has made a lengthy career path for herself, receiving box office and critical success with the first installment of Bill Murray’s “manopause” period of films, Lost In Translation, winning her an Oscar for best writing. In 2006 she re-teamed with Dunst, having her play the titular role in Marie Antoinette, in the overly artistic and indulgent, somewhat fictional account of the well-known historical figure.

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