‘The Virgin Suicides’ Through Corinne Day’s Eyes

In 1999, Sofia Coppola premiered her first feature film, The Virgin Suicides,  a sublime plunge into the adolescent psyche, based on the 1993 novel of the same name by Jeffrey Eugenides. Presented at the Cannes Film Festival, the film seduced audiences with its aesthetic mastery and its ability to capture youth with such rare accuracy, establishing Coppola as a major figure in contemporary cinema.

The Virgin Suicides tells the tragic story of five blonde, ethereal teenage girls, the Lisbon sisters, seen through the eyes of neighborhood boys who are powerless witnesses to their isolation . Set in a chic, cozy suburb of Detroit in the 1970s, the story weaves together adolescent memories, male fantasies and an oppressive family drama.

Although critics were lukewarm on its release, with some criticizing the film for its slow pacing and aloof tone, The Virgin Suicides immediately won over a loyal audience, particularly among young people, who recognized themselves in its sensitive evocation of adolescent turmoil. Over the years, the film has gained a cult following for its ability to portray the torments of youth so well, and for having paved the way for a female gaze in American independent cinema.

The film’s resonance also relies heavily on the strength and accuracy of its casting, particularly that of the young actresses who play the Lisbon sisters. Kirsten Dunst (who plays Lux Lisbon), then aged 17, is the film’s revelation, and her nuanced performance brilliantly embodies the contradictions of adolescence, between the quest for freedom. She is surrounded by a group of first-time actresses: Hanna R. Hall, Leslie Hayman, Andrea Joy Cook and Chelse Swain’s natural performances lend the film authenticity. The charismatic Josh Hartnett plays the tenebrous highschool lover Trip Fontaine and embodies adolescent fantasy and the cruelty of first desires. Kathleen Turner, playing the stifling, rigid mother, and James Wood as the gentle self-effacing father, bring emotional depth to the film and refresh its suffocating atmosphere. 

Cinematographer Edward Lachman (who has also worked with Todd Haynes, Robert Altman and Pablo Larrain) accentuates the sad beauty of the Lisbon sisters with golden light, giving the impression of daydreamy evanescence. And the soundtrack, by French duo Air, adds a melancholic dimension to the film’s scenes. Composed for the film, the melancholy electro-pop score perfectly matches the mood of the story. Air’s hushed rhythms accompany the emotions of the characters without ever taking precedence over the narrative. This collaboration also marked the beginning of Coppola’s strong artistic bonds with musicians, which has continued in her subsequent films in collaborations with My Bloody Valentine (Lost in Translation), The Cure, New Order, The Strokes (Marie Antoinette) and Phoenix (Marie Antoinette, Somewhere and The Bling Ring). 

Twenty-five years after its release, The Virgin Suicides continues to fascinate new generations. Alongside recent screenings of the digitally restored film, Coppola marked the anniversary by releasing a book. Also called The Virgin Suicides, the book is published by Important Flowers, Coppola’s publishing imprint, in association with Mack, the British publisher behind Sophia Coppola Archive: 1999-2023, which chronicles her entire filmography.

The Virgin Suicides book features previously unpublished photographs by Corinne Day, a leading British photographer of the ’90s, which were taken on the set of the film. Known for revolutionizing fashion photography with her raw, natural approach, Day had helped catapult Kate Moss to stardom with her grungy, undressed portraits published in The Face and British Vogue. 

On The Virgin Suicides set, Day captured the actors’ off-camera moments, documenting an intimate atmosphere which was a natural extension of the film. Day, who passed away in 2010, left behind a legacy of magnificent images, blending the youthful grace of the actors at work or between takes with fragments of sets and costumes: crucifixes, pink lace bras, beauty products. Coppola only recently rediscovered the existence of some of these shots, most of which had never been seen before, and decided to publish them in book form as a tribute to the artist she admired so much.

Day’s photographs are complemented with a note from author Jeffrey Eugenides and Coppola herself, who talks about the genesis of her first film, her artistic choices and the unique experience of the shoot. “[Day’s] photos didn’t look like the glossy 80’s fashion images I had grown up with,” wrote Coppola. “I could relate to these undone, slight girls and loved seeing the in-between moments, the photos that would usually be left out of the edit.”

This anniversary book highlights how, from the very beginning, Coppola was able to capture the emotion and the spleen of youth, a recurring theme in most of her subsequent films, and to impose her feminine gaze.