ABSTRACT
Sofia Coppola’s debut is placed in the path of female independent filmmaking of the 1990s. While the explosion of independent cinema in that decade was buttressed by an array of different, previously marginalized voices, there were still relatively few women directors operating either inside or outside the independent film world. Three films by female directors truly extended the ways in which genre, female sexuality and transgression were engaged: Jennifer Montgomery’s Art for Teachers of Children (1995), Kelly Reichardt’s River of Grass (1995), and Lisa Krueger’s Manny & Lo (1996). These three films present a space for female sexuality that is uncompromised, yet troubling in its engagement with the dominant ideology. These films ‘set the stage’ for The Virgin Suicides through offering female protagonists whose sexuality defies social parameters and the expectations for an audience. In particular, the contributions of 90s female directors and their presentation of sexuality, kinship and female agency offer a model for Coppola’s vision in her short film Lick the Star (1998) and her first feature. While Coppola’s debut marks an extraordinary—and singular—vision, the independent cinematic ‘cousins’ place her film as part of a continuum rather than as an isolated example of aesthetic and social progress.
