First Reaction

Monday, May 2nd, 2011

This was my absolute first time watching the movie Virgin Suicides and I enjoyed it very much. I thought the director did a very good job at the casting. Almost every actor was portrayed exactly how I thought they would be. I found that Trip and and Mr. Lisbon were extremely different than how they were portrayed in the book.

One difference between reading a book and watching a movie is that in the book interpretation, imagination is all up to the reader and in the movie everything is pretty much laid out right in front of you. I found I could describe the characters a lot better than the book because in the movie I could study their facial expressions. In certain scenes such as the scene when Lux is sitting on the rooftop after having sex with yet another faceless man you could tell what she was thinking. You could see various emotions on her face such as being fed up, feeling worthless, and so much sadness. When reading a book emotions could be told but not seen. When emotions are seen, the passage or book is taken to a whole new emotional level.  The one part where I absolutely loved to see the emotions on the characters faces was when Cecilia died because in the book the circumstances were discussed more than how everyone was feeling. Also, it was interesting to see the reactions of the Lisbon girls' once they returned to school after Cecilia's death.

In the book the setting of the story was left to our imagination. Sure, a description was given but every person will have a different description. Seeing where the Lisbon family lived and where the story took place reminded me of California. It reminded me of a town in California that consisted of a rich families. The flowers and landscaping all reminded me of Bakersfield, California.

I wanted to make a quick note of how perfect Kristen Dunst portrayed Lux Lisbon. I have never really liked Kristen Dunst but for some reason I loved her in this movie. She did a fantastic job playing Lux. The flirty, wild and carefree side were all expressed very well. After this movie my opinion about her has definitely changed as an actress.

Overall, fantastic movie accompanied with a fantastic book. It was great to see that the movie and book went along together and that they were not something totally different. The movie touched my heart and to me that is what made it better because in order to make me really feel for a movie, takes a a lot of work! I usually do not get caught with the emotional drama in movies because I know it's fake but the case was totally different for this movie. Maybe because suicide is very delicate topic and a very sensitive one. I loved the movie and I am extremely glad I chose to read this book.