Sara

Submitted the deletion from the trivia section.

http://juliekinnear.com/toronto-filming-locations/the-virgin-suicides- 1999

No mention of a Sara. It doesn't say what role Alyssa Milano was offered, but even if it is within the realm of possibility to cast a twenty-eight year old actress for the "only in her forties" part of Mrs. Lisbon--it is, of course--it's still not a usuality. On the other hand, there's an eleven year difference between her and the oldest daughter.

Sara's not on the dvd case nor its insert Nor does Kathleen Turner refer to her character as Sara in her autobiography.

Page 193 in my copy, Lisbon, Ronald A. is listed in Joe Larson's phone book. I'm not 100% sure but they might also show it in the movie. Their street name, Whitehall, is visible when they search through the phone book, so his first name is probably too.

The third person plural narrator(s) though not omniscient knew Mrs. Lisbon's first name. Nothing else left untouched, they would've expended a few lines to rationalize why they didn't know her name if that were the case. As adults, they tracked her down for an interview, meeting at a bus station, and still, no first name. Sofia for whatever reason doesn't rectify what may have been an oversight on Jeffrey the author's part.

Along with Jeffrey Eugenides' book, Kathleen Turner's book, & the dvd insert, there is no Sara Lisbon to be found in the press kit, or the 1999 magazine. In short, a Sara has yet be found in the realm of printed material (there are the Paris Review and the uncorrected version of the book that have to be checked). Paramount and American Zoetrope both screwed up?

I can tell you for sure IMDB's dramatis personae listed a Mrs. Lisbon from 2002 until several years ago, when, like the Wikipedia entry, it suddenly said there was a Sara--read the thread above about the bogus showbiz news that was submitted and entered into the trivia section.

The dvd has been available from Netflix for awhile. If you needed to find out if the Netfix's description including Sara was written within the last several years after the hoax permeated the web through IMDB and Wikipedia, both widely sourced and subject to editing by users without accountability, there is this blockhead question posted on Yahoo Answers: https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20130618213713AApZTyr

Neither Jeffrey Eugenides nor Sofia Coppola have given Mrs. Lisbon a first name. If they intentionally wrote her without a first name, it could be a relevant detail illustrating how the third person plural narrative perceived her, a homemaker from whose appearance none of the attractive qualities seen in her daughters could be found. When it comes to the movie, nobody other than Sofia Coppola has the right to give her that name.