ALTHOUGH the Virgin Suicides is taken from a novel by Jeffrey Eugenides, as a film it has such an air of authenticity, you can almost believe this gruesome piece of fiction really happened.

In middle-class suburban America in the 70's, Kathleen Turner and James Woods play upright parents to five attractive teenage daughters. The five girls, aged 13 to 17, are beginning to explore the delights of teenagedom, but their mother and father take a healthy (and ever so slightly puritanical) interest in their lives, scrutinising any boy who shows a modicum of attraction for their delectable-looking daughters.

Their lives though are torn apart by the apparently inexplicable attempted suicide of their youngest daughter Cecilia, who outwardly had seemed such a contented girl. She is sent to see a shrink (Danny DeVito) but his recommendation that she, and the others, are given the chance to mix more with boys, has no effect. As you might have guessed from the title, with Cecilia, it is a case of if at first you don't succeed, have another go. And things get worse. Tragedy pervades the family like a sickness.

A startlingly memorable and well paced film with excellent performances throughout, it is yet annoyingly unclear about why these girls resort to such extreme actions. The film has genuine shock power, as well as laughs and tragedy. You can't help but get caught up in it.

This is a decent debut from Sofia Coppola (best known for her inept acting performance in The Godfather 3), and on this evidence, she clearly has talent behind the camera.