Last night I watched Sophia Coppola’s version of The Virgin Suicides before I had to return it today. If I hadn’t read the book, I would have simply accepted the movie and been done with it. However, in the midst of taking her own approach to the story, she really butchered the overall tone and themes, not to mention the inconsistencies with the book.
Firstly, the Lisbon parents seemed way too cheerful and perky in the movie when compared to the characterisation presented in Jeffrey Eugenides’s book. I couldn’t understand why Coppola would try to create a joyful tone that wasn’t there. While the book was a dark comedy, there wasn’t any evidence that the Lisbon parents were perky or happy-go-lucky people.
Secondly, as I read the book, I saw the community as much more bleak and dreary than the one presented in the film. Maybe that was simply my interpretation, but I would have rather seen the movie as done by Tim Burton or another director of similar feel–that is, gloom and doom.
Thirdly, the sequence of the story was off in spots. Two aspects that really stuck out at me were: 1) she introduced the setting as “Michigan, 25 years ago” right in the beginning. However, in the book, the somewhat anonymity of the town made it more applicable to any situation. 2) She simply ended the movie with Mary dying in her first attempt. In the book, Mary was unsuccessful (as was Cecilia) her first time.
Fourthly, small errors like the misspelling of names were common. For instance, in the book, one of the boys was named Tim Winer, but in the movie, his name was spelled Tim Weiner. Simple mistakes like that are enough to drive me crazy and make me wonder how close attention Coppola paid to the book.
I can’t deny, despite all my criticisms, that Coppola did put her own spin and mood into the film. It was an interesting take on the story, but one that I feel inadequately tried to capture the spirit of the novel, let alone Eugenides’s beautiful diction and storytelling.
Overall, I can’t ethically give the movie more than a 4/10 because of its disregard for the original novel.
|:| Zach |:|
