Synopsis

In suburban Detroit during the 1970s, five sheltered Lisbon sisters become objects of fascination for a group of neighborhood boys. After the youngest sister's suicide, the girls are placed under even tighter parental control, deepening their isolation. Years later, the boys attempt to reconstruct the sisters' lives and understand the mystery surrounding their brief, tragic existence.

Factoids & Trivia

• The film adapts Jeffrey Eugenides' 1993 debut novel. Sofia Coppola wrote the screenplay after reading the book and made the project her feature directorial debut.

• Francis Ford Coppola co-produced the film. Its 1999 premiere took place in the Directors' Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival.

• French electronic duo Air composed the score. Coppola wanted music that felt consistent with the film's adolescent atmosphere rather than simply assembling familiar 1970s hits.

• Costume designer Nancy Steiner used vintage-store finds and period-inspired pieces to give the sisters' wardrobes an ethereal but lived-in quality. The clothing became an important part of the film's visual identity.

• Coppola's mother, Eleanor Coppola, documented the production in the 1998 making-of film "Making of The Virgin Suicides." That documentary was later included among the supplements for the Criterion Collection edition.

• The Criterion Collection release also includes Coppola's 1998 short film "Lick the Star," an early work that foreshadows her interest in teenage alienation and stylized suburban life.

• The film's hazy cinematography, atmospheric Air score, and treatment of memory helped establish the visual and emotional traits that became associated with Coppola's later work.