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The Lisbon Suicides
Therese, Lux, Mary, Bonnie and Cecilia make up the five Lisbon girls, ages 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17. Cecilia, the youngest, lives in her sisters shadows because they are all older and of much more interest to their male neighbors. As a cry for help, she slits her wrists and lays down in the bathtub, she survived the incident. After a psychiatrist highly impresses upon the strict Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon that it would be benificial for Cecilia to be exposed to environments which have boys her own age, Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon decide to allow the girls to throw the one and only Lisbon party. Some of the neighborhood's boys are invited over and while the party is in session, Cecilia is pretty inanimate, sitting on the couch while her sisters flirt, talk and laugh. Midway through the party, Cecilia asks to be excused and Mrs. Lisbon - though somewhat reluctantly - allows it. Cecilia goes up to her room (on the second floor of a two-story house) and jumps out the window, landing on the spiked fence on the front lawn of the Lisbon house. In this way, Cecilia Lisbon commited suicide. Only four girls remain.

The act which Cecilia committed did not go at all unnoticed. The father saw her immediately, the party ended there and all of the boys went home rather glum. Four of the Lisbon's neighbors, four young boys, suffered a rapidly growing obsession with the Lisbon girls, who were beautiful and a total mystery to the outside world. They got hold of Cecilia's diary and tried to explain why she committed suicide. The eldest decided Cecilia was a dreamer, and she did not think she would fall when she jumped out her window, she thought she would fly.

With their youngest sister gone, the remaining Lisbon girls grow closer to each other, stranding themselves further from the outside world. When school starts again, they attempt to go on acting as if nothing happened, not ever mentioning their youngest sister. The run-of-the-mill awkward act is taken part by the rest of the school however. The usual profuse apology to the mention of the word "death" and the like.

Trip Fontaine is the most popular guy in school, the object of desire to all of the girls at school... Except for the Lisbon girls, which is of no importance to Trip until he sets eyes on Lux. Trip cannot help but be enchanted by her flawless beauty. In the beginning, he is unsuccessful in his quest to even catch her attention for she bluntly shows she's not interested. But after his consistent courtship, Lux falls for his charming ways. Trip then attempts to convince Mr. Lisbon to let him and three of his football team pals take the Lisbon daughters to Homecoming. After Mr. Lisbon talks to his wife, he agrees to Trip's request, knowing nothing but Trip's sincerity and claimed honorable intentions, on the understanding that Trip have all of the Lisbon girls returned to the house by curfew.

After Trip explains the situation to his football peers, he gives in to those who bribe him the most handsomely. Meanwhile, the Lisbon girls are picking out fabric for the dresses they shall wear to the Homecoming Dance. Though one pattern is used for all four dresses, each dress looks unique when concentrating on detail. Once they pick up the girls, they stop midway to the Homecoming in order to smoke, Lux being the only girl volunteering to smoke.
They then drive to the dance. Trip and Lux sneak away and sneak swallows of alcohol. Another one of the Lisbon sisters and her date follow, but leave soon afterwards, not being as wild nor daring as Trip and Lux. At the time they all decided to meet back at the car so they could make the girls curfew, they are all there... Except for Trip and Lux, who at that time were alone in the middle of the football stadium field. Deciding they must make their own curfews, Therese, Bonnie, Mary and their dates leave without them. After fooling around, the intoxicated Trip and Lux fall asleep in the middle of the football stadium. Trip awakens in the middle of the night and leaves Lux there alone. When Lux wakes up early the next morning she is confused as to why Trip is not there. She takes a taxi home and her parents were worried sick (of course). But they take measures as far as pulling the girls out of school and stranding them inside the Lisbon residence.

The girls, in a desperate attempt to hold onto a connection to the outside world, begin using morse code to interact with the four boys who so closely follow their lives. One of which boys lived across the street and the rest which came over daily after this in order to contact the girls. Soon following, the boys begin talking to the Lisbon girls via phone. One day, the girls invite the boys to come over once Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon are asleep. The plan being that the boys were to drive the girls somewhere, the boys hastily agree. They sneak over and Lux invites them to wait inside for her sisters and Lux goes to wait in the car. The boys wander down to the basement while waiting for Therese, Bonnie and Mary, verbally expressing their hopes for the night. But then they realize they have stumbled upon one of the sisters. She had hung herself. The boys, scared to death, run all the way home. Time passed, things changed, girls came and went... But no matter what, those four boys NEVER forgot the Lisbon suicides.

Ultimately, the movie was nothing short of queer. When trying to sum up the story in a few lines (such as "Follow the lives of the Lisbon sisters and how they connect to their neighbors. A story full of obsession, gossip, lust, love, desire and isolation.") the story sounds quite unique and intriguing, but the story fell short of that for me personally. Partly because the Lisbon sisters really committed suicide for a reason not much deeper than isolation. The movie, in places, is also extremely flawed. I do not believe Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon could've removed their daughters from school for so long without their daughters being taken from them by social services. In many parts of the movie, they should've used upbeat music to fill the deafening silences. The whole movie was filmed in a style that I can truthfully say makes me rather bored. I would only suggest this film to, perhaps, people who like movies such as "Elizabethtown" which Kirsten Dunst is also in. But I personally disliked this movie which was not very tasteful and will not be watching it again in the future.

Sentimental and fake
Having enjoyed LOST IN TRANSLATION, I thought I might like this one, which seems to have some sort of cult reputation-- why I can't fathom. The entire plot is self-serving, shallow, and unrealistic. I guess it's supposed to depict the horror of repressive religious values, and while I don't condone those, the film lacks clear characters or any motivation. A lot of people have buttoned up parents who don't get it, and it doesn't mean they kill themselves-- because they were grounded!?

Since the writer-director gerw up in Hollywood, she may not be aware that you can't keep your kid home from school without a very good reason-- social workers and what not come after you. So the entire premise is false.

Romanticizing mass suicide by having a bunch of soft focus young blondes do it-- after which they supposedly ascend to erotic eternity in the imaginations of their boyish peers-- could actually encourage the act. It's not caring, not real, and not responsible.

But I guess that wouldn't bother the rich, overfunded daughter of a Hollywood genius out to make a name for herself.

If you love her, let her go...
Sofia Coppola takes on conformity in a black comedy about a house of five young girls who are just trying to reach out and grow up in the world, if their parents would allow them. It is told through the watching, voyeuristic eyes of young boys who obsess over the girls mentally, emotionally, sexually, and even intellectually.

It was pretty good, I enjoyed it. There really isn't much I feel there is to say about it, as it is a pretty self-contained little movie. Coppola satirizes the clean warmth of suburbia without the self-indulgence of most artists dealing with conformity. I'm surprised by the cover descriptions and synopses that talk about this film as if it's a mystery; it's about as mysterious as what drives Charles Kane. However the "haunting lyricism" and "dark humor" aspects are pretty correct.

It's a pretty good film.

--PolarisDiB

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