The Virgin Suicides

Cecilia was the first to go.

What are you doing here, honey?

You're not even old enough to know how bad life gets.

Obviously, Doctor, you've never been a 13-year-old girl.

Everyone dates the demise of our neighborhood

from the suicides of the Lisbon girls.

People saw their clairvoyance in the wiped-out elms,

the harsh sunlight,

and the continuing decline of our auto industry.

Even then, as teenagers, we tried to put the pieces together.

We still can't.

Now, whenever we run into each other at business lunches or cocktail parties,

we find ourselves in the corner going over the evidence one more time.

All to understand those five girls...

who, after all these years, we can't get out of our minds.

Cecilia, the youngest, was 13.

And Lux was 14.

Bonnie was 15.

Mary was 16.

And Therese was 17.

No one could understand how Mrs. Lisbon and Mr. Lisbon, our math teacher,

had produced such beautiful creatures.

Paul Baldino claimed to have found Cecilia on her first attempt.

Hey, I was the one who found her.

I was in the storm sewer under my house,

and there's all these tunnels.

You can get into anyone's house.

So when Paul said this, we believed him

because he was the son of Sammy "The Shark" Baldino,

and we knew about his escape tunnel that led through the sewers.

So I went up, thinkin' I could see one of those Lisbon girls takin' a shower.

- Yeah. - All right.

And I walk in...

and I see blood everywhere.

So I turned around and went straight for the stairs and right back up the tunnel.

Had to tell you guys that story, so...

I'll see you guys later, all right?

I heard it was an accident.

No, it was no accident, Joan. Of course the parents are to blame.

Well, I heard they found the razor in the toilet.

Everyone had an opinion as to why Cecilia had tried to kill herself.

That girl didn't wanna die.

She just wanted out of that house.

She wanted out of that decorating scheme.

The most popular theory held Dominic Palazzolo to blame.

Dominic was the immigrant kid who was staying with relatives

until his family got settled in New Mexico.

He was the first boy in our neighborhood to wear sunglasses,

and within a week of his arrival he'd fallen in love.

The object of his desire wasn't Cecilia, but Diana Porter.

I love her.

When Diana Porter left on vacation in Switzerland,

Dominic denounced God.

I don't know!

And to prove the validity of his love, he jumped off the roof of his relatives' house.

I'm gonna show you some images.

And, uh, you tell me...

what they remind you of.

Okay?

A banana.

A swamp.

An Afro.

Mm-hmm.

I don't think Cecilia truly meant to end her life.

Her act was a cry for help.

I know you're very strict,

but I think that Cecilia would benefit

by having a social outlet outside of the codification of school...

where she could interact with males her own age.

Peter Sisten had helped Mr. Lisbon

install a model of the solar system in his classroom,

and in return Mr. Lisbon invited him for dinner.

Bless us, O Lord, in these, thy gifts

which we are about to receive from thy bounty.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Amen.

Lux, please. Put your shirt on this instant.

Sorry.

Thank you, dear.

Can you pass the salt, please?

- Ham? - Thank you.

Uh, sweetheart, would you like some peas?

- I hate peas. - Here.

That's a nice-looking ham, dear.

Oh, thank you, honey.

Mmm, this is good, Mom.

So, Peter, are you, uh, an aviation enthusiast?

Well, I, uh -

I don't know if I'd call myself an enthusiast, but, uh, I like planes.

- Oh, yeah? - Thanks.

Ah.

Uh, Peter, are you on - on the football squad?

Um, no, I play it, but I'm not actually on the team.

- Oh, I see. - Not a team player.

Do you like to wrestle?

You okay, Peter?

The Brazilian turbot frog was added to the endangered species list today.

- That's the third animal this year. - Oh, dear.

The turbot frog. Darling, I don't think I've ever heard of it.

Um, excuse me. May I use the restroom?

Oh, of course. The one down here isn't working very well.

Go upstairs, through Cecilia's room.

Okay. Thanks.

Hold - Hold on.

I thought you'd died in there.

Are you done hogging the bathroom? I need something.

Do you mind?

Thank you very much.

Are you forgetting something?

Oh, Peter. Here's a little airfoil I thought you might find -.

- Thank you. - Find amusing.

It's a -

demonstration of Bernoulli's principle.

Lift and -.

From that time on, the Lisbon house began to change.

Almost every day,

and even when she wasn't keeping an eye on Cecilia,

Lux would suntan on her towel,

wearing a swimsuit that caused the knife sharpener

to give her a 15-minute demonstration for free.

Following the doctor's orders,

two weeks after Cecilia returned home,

Mr. Lisbon persuaded his wife to allow the girls

to throw the first and only party of their short lives.

There. Is that okay?

I gotta get dressed.

- Welcome. - Good evening, Mrs. Lisbon.

Come on in.

The party's in the basement.

Just go on around to the left and then down the stairs.

Hi. I'm Bonaventure.

- Hi. - Hi. Tim.

Nice to meet you.

- Hi. - Hi.

- Would you like some punch? - Yeah.

- Okay. - Thanks.

- Hi. - Hi.

Thanks.

- Hi. - Thank you.

- Hey. - Hi.

Do you wanna sit down?

Yeah.

Um, how'd your SAT's go?

Okay.

Good.

Do you know where you're applying yet?

Well, no, but my parents are pushing towards Yale

because that's where my dad went.

That's nice.

But you have to imagine what it'd be like when the clouds would open up

and out of the sun would come the Hun and his Messerschmitt coming down.

And, boys, I swear, what, two or three years older than you

would be in this, the P-51 B Mustang.

"B" for what? For bull's-eye, see?

You've heard of Yale?

Oh, yeah.

This punch is fantastic.

- Can I give you more? - Sure.

What's in it?

Juices - some cherry, uh, pineapple.

You know, I, uh -

I love pineapple.

Really?

This baby would come in -.

And this won the war for the United Kingdom. You see?

- E-Excuse me. - Sure. Okay.

And it's this kind of, uh - this kind of, uh, equipment that -

that makes, uh, a model work.

Here's Joe.

- Hi, Joe. - Hi.

Hi, Joe.

- Now, if he needs anything, just call me. - Oh, I'm sure we'll be fine.

Hi.

Hi.

- Joe, good to see you. - How are ya?

- Good. - Glad you came tonight.

- How's it going? - Hey, Joe, how's it going?

- You're just in time. - In time.

Good. Hi.

Hey, everyone, look. His ears wiggle if you scratch his chin.

Joe, sing your song.

Good job, Joe. Good song.

Good job, Joe.

- Where'd you learn that song? - That was good.

May I be excused?

If you want to, my dear, but this is your party.

A-All right, I-if you wanna go upstairs, go ahead.

But we'll just - we'll just have to have fun without you.

Oh, look. He always chooses heads.

- Joe, what's it gonna be? - Heads.

Joe, will you try tails?

Heads it is.

Let's try again, eh? Let's go.

- Heads. - Tails.

Heads.

- One more time. In the air, Joe. - Heads.

Heads it is anyway!

One more time, man.

- Okay, call it in the air, Joe. - Heads.

Heads. That's enough of that.