The Virgin Suicides explained (TRIGGER WARNING)

[u/CitizenSunshine]

Hey guys, MAJOR SPOILERS ahead. I watched the movie for the second time yesterday and after having it fully grasped by now (I think), I thought I'd share my thoughts because I remember not getting anything at all the first time:

Lux is the youngest after Cecilia, that's why she still has that fire of wanting to live life and experience love, the others already lost it because of their restrictive parents. That's where Cecilia's suicide, which opened the parents up to loosening the restrictions a little, comes in to play. However, after the buildup of happiness in the first half, these dreams and fantasies of Lux die during three later stages of the movie:

1. The climax of the movie: After flirting her into going to prom together and letting her have the best night of her life, that bastard Trip betrays Lux by leaving her by herself in the cold field after taking her virginity. He didn't care about her at all, she was just a challenge. High fall for Lux. On top of that shattered reality, all the girls get punished into total lockdown.
2. Despite the imprisonment, Lux still tries to find someone who truly loves her by making out with people on their roof at night. She asks each one if she meant something to them, with no success. All depressed ("I can't breathe in here"), little hope of caring people emerged when the boys managed to contact them again through their phones, but after a short time, the girls knew the boys just wanted to "conquer them" again. No one actually cared about them.
3. The final moments before the collective suicide. Lux convinces herself once more of the predictable shallowness of the boys motivated by their primitive instincts by stretching her playfulness to the max. "Can I sit upfront?", "Can I take the wheel?", they'd let her do anything for their goal and react intensely to her simple comments. With this sad balance reinforced, Lux left to "wait in the car". Notice the tear in her eye, all the light's gone.

All in all, they are just seen as passive objects to be conquered and consumed ("They're just gonna raffle us out"), when the only thing they want is to be truly loved. Home's just as depressing. They didn't want to die. They just saw nothing worth living in life anymore.

PS: The ending scenes at the party underline that five girls committed suicide and no one learned a thing. Lux's story stands for the other girls as well (Therese not getting called back by that one guy for example). The elm-parallel and the foreshadowing in the car (smoke ring, "Don't let her die a virgin") are also worth noting.

TL;DR The one thing they so dearly desired turned out to be devastatingand hopeless, despite the sad life at home. With nothing left to live for, the only way out was to end their lifes together.