Representing only 7% of the Hollywood’s directors, women are still searching for equity in the largest film industry of the Western. In an area dominated by men, Sofia Coppola emerges with great productions that won an Academy Award for Best Screenplay in 2004 and two Golden Globes for Best Musical Film and Best Screenplay, all for the production Lost in Translation.
Her last name does not hide the fact that she is Francis Ford Coppola´s daughter. The acclaimed director is responsible for the classic trilogy The Godfather (1972). However, do not fool yourself: her prestige and consecration came from the merit and cinematographic characteristics Sofia has, which differ her from her father and from any other director. At the age of 46, in 2017 the director premiered the production The Beguiled. It is a thriller set at the War of Secession’s time that gave Sofia the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival this year.
A fun fact is that even before Sofia started her career as a film director, she took part as actress in movies such as The Godfather and Star Wars I, in which she plays a small role in the royal entourage.
The characteristics Sofia puts on her directing work are unique and show the reason why she is so consecrated in the cinematographic market. Strong female characters, dense psychological conflicts, a very detailed aesthetic sense, a color palette that explores pastel and soft tones, and the use of the soundtrack as an integral part of the narrative are part of Sofia’s film brands.
Photo Credit: IMDB
In The Virgin Suicides (1999), Sofia had her premiere as a director of feature films and surprised the audience with her feminine look in the movies, a rare fact that must be emphasized. The story, based on a book by Jeffrey Eugenides, portrays the life of the Lisbon couple and their five daughters living an extremely repressive life inside the United States. The unfolding of the plot takes place from the suicide attempt of one of the daughters, which leads the family to start an integration with the local community.
Photo Credit: Focus Features via IMDB
Sofia’s second feature film Lost in Translation (2004) is a drama set in Tokyo, which tells the story of Bob Harris (Bill Murray), a veteran actor with few expectations, and Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson), the unhappy wife of a celebrity’s photographer. When the characters meet at the bar of the hotel where they are hosted, they begin to share their insecurities and frustrations. In addition to sublimely and bewilderingly portraying the most unexpected situations of cultural clashes with the Oriental aspects, Lost in Translation criticise hardly the celebrity idolatry. The production earned Bill Murray his only nomination for Best Actor at the 2004 Oscar.
Photo Credit: IMDB
The third Coppola’s production is the acclaimed Best Costume Design Oscar winner Marie Antoinette (2006). The movie is based on two biographies about the Austrian archduchess who would become the most remembered French queen. It has a very emotional view of the young queen and shows the maturation of Sofia as director. She genuinely mixed historical and contemporary elements without making caricatures.
Photo Credit: Franco Biciocchi/Focus Features via IMDB
Somewhere (2010) had its premiere at the Venice Film Festival and won the Golden Lion for best picture. In this production, Sofia returns to a story with an actor character, such as in her second film. It tells the life of Johnny Marco, an actor who recently achieved fame while recovering from a minor injury at the famous Chateau Marmont Hotel and developing a relationship with his eleven-year-old daughter, played by the brilliant Elle Fanning.
Photo Credit: A24 Films via IMDB
Based on real facts, The Bling Ring (2013) is the portrait of the life of some young people that start to enter the residence of Hollywood celebrities, like Paris Hilton and Megan Fox. Their objectives are to accumulate three million dollars and to gain prominence in several newspapers of the time between the years of 2008 and 2009 in the United States. The film features Emma Watson in the cast and is one of Sofia’s latest productions. The Bling Ring explores the banality of rich young people’s lives, as well as the familiar problems of their upbringing.
After these movie tips, are you ready to enter Sofia’s cinema universe?
Translation by Maria Luiza Dourado