Can there be any topic more challenging than teen suicide with which to launch a film career? But Sofia Coppola most admirably explores it as the writer-director of The Virgin Suicides.

Adapted from a much-admired novel, this is a disturbing, surprisingly humorous and insightful film detailing the tragic suicides of five teenage girls in one suburban family in the 1970s.

The Virgin Suicides is told from the point of view of neighbour boys who have observed, and lusted after, the five Lisbon girls. We learn from the start that the girls all die before even turning 18; the story then examines the circumstances of their final weeks.

Kathleen Turner and James Woods contribute marvellous portrayals as the parents of the doomed girls. Mrs. Lisbon is a well-meaning, religious-minded and overly strict mother, while her husband is a sweetly feeble father.

Their mother's restrictions keep the daughters out of most...