May 4–11, 2000

movies

First Time’s The Charm

"Can you make that into something that makes sense?" It’s noon California time, and by the sound of it, Sofia Coppola is nearing her interview limit for the day. She’s midway between the New York/LA openings of her debut feature The Virgin Suicides and its national roll-out, and judging by the number of features that have already appeared and the anxious, scattered tone of her voice, you imagine she’s been doing this non-stop for several weeks now. Luckily, Suicides can do most of the talking for her, and certainly speaks strongly enough to drown out the idea that Sofia Coppola is merely anybody’s daughter, wife or cousin.

The film is set in the mid-’70s, a time Coppola, 28, is herself too young to remember. Besides remaining true to Jeffrey Eugenides’ novel — which based on the number of times she mentions it was a major concern — Coppola says setting it in an era she lived through but can’t recall was oddly appropriate: "The whole novel’s about memory, the way you remember things differently than they actually happened. Because I’m at the age where I don’t remember [the time] clearly, it kind of adds to the haziness, the romanticizing [of] a time you aren’t really familiar with."

Shot as if through the eyes of the sexually maturing neighborhood boys, Suicides turns the nubile Lisbon sisters into "icons of blond suburban feminity," Cheryl Ladd-like paragons of ’70s beauty. Inspired by "’70s Playboys among other things," they’re visions of feathered hair and blond wholesomeness. Working with veteran cinematographer Ed Lachmann — who shot both The Limey and Erin Brockovich for Steven Soderbergh after Suicides wrapped, a sobering reminder of how long it takes indies to find distribution — Coppola says she concentrated on giving the film the feel of amateur photography while still making it elegant, like an album full of childhood snapshots.

Her models for the film, she says, were mostly photographic, although she references’ Badlands’ cinematography and the way To Kill a Mockingbird and The Graduate "really felt like the kids’ world, not like an adult point of view." Given that Coppola spent her childhood on movie sets — she was in all three Godfathers, not just the third — it’s not surprising that she can tap that childlike perspective now that she’s making films herself.

—Sam Adams