Sofia Coppola: How to get out of the shadow of the father, to tell women's stories
At the end of the Cannes Film Festival Sofia Coppola Received a director's prize for the drama "Fatal Temptation", which will get to the Russian hire in late July. This is her third major award after the Oscar for the best original script (“Lost in Translation”) and the main prize, the Golden Lion, at the Venice Film Festival for Somewhere.
Apart from Coppola, in the history of Cannes, a woman won the prize for directing only once - in 1961. Then for the film "The Tale of Fiery Years" was awarded our compatriot Julia Solntseva. If the beginning of Sophia Coppola’s career was accompanied by indulgent comments in the spirit of “you yourself know your daughter”, then after twenty years her determination and abilities on the set are no longer disputed by anyone. Coppola, 46, is one of the few female directors of modern times who are known even to those who are far from movies. We understand at what point it girl and the gossip heroine found herself in the cinema and what came of it.
"I want to thank Roman (Coppola, brother and producer Sofia. - Approx. Ed.) and friends who cheered me when I was stuck on page 12, "- Sofia Coppola hugs the Oscar statuette for the best original script. Fragile, in a simple and elegant black dress, a few months before she won the prestigious Golden Globe nomination "but still looks taken by surprise and does not surprise with eloquence. Thanks to dad, thanks to mom, thanks to everyone who is in the frame - in Sofia Coppola with an important award you can see everything except for pride and self-confidence.
These are her first steps in the world of film awards and professional recognition: they begin to believe in her after only the parents and friends mentioned have believed for years. From the very beginning in conversations about Sofia Coppola, gossip about nepotism came up first: to engage in cinema, when your father is a recognized classic, is much simpler, and Sofia never denied it. However, not all children of great people with a good inheritance are able to dispose of privileges - and in this thoroughness it can only be envied.
Favorite baby in a big house
Sophia's path is the scenario of a happy child from a famous family, who was raised in such a way that creativity seemed to be the most sensible of the classes. In an interview that Coppola still does not like, she remembers not only her father, whom she could come to the set at any time, but also her mother, who believed that her daughter was in no way inferior to her brothers.
Sofia's childhood and adolescence were stormy: then an internship at the famous fashion house, a friendship with the main rock-heroes of the generation, and a quick visit to film school happened. Coppola was hanging out a lot and was friends with all those who had been tirelessly watched from the late 80s, from promising designers to MTV stars. In the idiot television show of the early 90s, "Hi-Octane", which Sofia filmed with her friend, another famous child in Hollywood, Zoya Cassavetis, there was grimacing, relaxed self-confidence and a complete lack of fear of the camera - however, in an interview with Sophia and Zoya there was nothing special to say: it was striking that they liked much more than nonsense in the company of Sonic Youth or the Beastie Boys much more than impressing a TV presenter.
Tossing between music and show business, Sofia first brushed off the cinema: she wanted to go in for fashion and even launched her own clothing line, which is still sold in Asia. Few parents allow children to start and throw things dozens of times, and in Coppola’s life there were many attempts to do something other than cinema: after playing a role in “The Godfather - 3” and bullying in the press, they say, my father’s daughter plays worse than log, Sofia I thought about anything, but not about my own films. Everything changed when the Virginia Suicide bestseller about the Puritan family in Michigan came into her hands, where friendly and beautiful teenage sisters were able to get out of the system of domestic violence only at the cost of their own lives. Sophia had already worked with the video and shot her first meter, but decided that she would become a director only when she hung over a book about childish destinies: she decided to film her at any cost.
Articulated feminine look
Coppole is unusual in praising or explaining his choice, but it is easy to see that women's view of history is fundamental for her. In each of the films, the director introduces not only strong and well-written (Coppola) heroines, but also deliberately refuses to force events according to the precepts of Robert McKee. From the first short meter of "Lick The Star" about the thirteen-year-old detachment gang, Sofia wants to tell stories where the experiences of the heroines relate to her personal experience and all the stages of growing up that she went through, even if they all have different experiences. From evil for the whole world girls on the threshold of transitional age - to those who were locked up in their own body and world of conventions to the inhabitants of a closed female hostel. The world of virgin suicides was completely different from the one in which Coppola herself was raised, and it was precisely for this reason that she was so interesting. The family of Francis Ford and Eleanor was least of all obsessed with rigid prohibitions and the idea of piety, and never divided children into pet sons and a daughter, who should just play by the rules.
In “The Difficulties of Translation”, Coppola gently balanced between the two main characters, giving no advantage to anyone and revealing young Scarlett Johansson on a par with recognized star Bill Murray. It leaves both heroes enough space for us to feel their estrangement and everyday boredom and with them swept thrillingly through the stormy night of Tokyo, gaming machines and hung on the very party where both sing karaoke.
In Marie Antoinette, Coppola arrives in Versailles to film a traditional biopic with courtiers stretched like a string, but a horrible story of misinterpreted fate - a girl taken hostage in a neighboring country as a teenager, although this was then called a dynastic marriage. Her release comes through parties, motherhood, falling in love, trying to feel her land under her feet, where every minute is regulated, and her status, with all the official regalia, is lower than the dressing table in her own bedroom. Marie Antoinette, a woman in the form of an order out of place, fails because she was not created for the role that adults have hung on her.
Sophia's next film is not about her relationship with her father (as they used to gossip at the time of “Somewhere”), but about that simple and compact world of Los Angeles, in which she grew up and with whom she was too familiar. The celebrity's routine is interrupted when a daughter visits him - the closest and most accurate and most understanding and demanding person in exchange, with whom the main character spends almost no time. A film about returning to oneself through direct communication and doing nothing breaks the tradition of parent-child films, where dogmatism and injury go hand in hand. Instead of giving the reins to the hero of the father, Sophia delicately asks: "And what about the daughter? Can't the child influence the parent?" - and responds with a chamber and very warm film about intimacy, where little happens.
“Elite Society” in the hands of Sofia Coppola turns from a newspaper headline into a cheeky and cheerful movie about group dynamics and crimes without punishment: Coppola explicitly speaks in this movie about the influence and privileges of the generation of California teenagers who dream of copying and being someone else. And in this, again, there is very little dogma and a lot of correct comments about sixteen-year-olds — Sophia never ceased to observe her entire career.
The “fatal temptation” shown in Cannes again demonstrates a feminine look, and during the fourth wave of feminism, critics no longer hesitate to ask direct questions to Coppola about whether she is doing a feminist project, and she does not deny that she is remaking a classic story for herself. The original film "Deceived" in 1971, which repeats Coppola in a plot, was shot from the point of view of a man who fell into the trap of his own masculinity and the hands of the women in a boarding house hungry for caress. Among several heroines, the narrator is still a man - a situation that reflects the narrative of the time, which Sofia Coppola consciously shifts. We see several ages of femininity and live in a relationship in a closed group, where a man, feeling himself the master of the situation, is not really.
Modern Hollywood vs New
One of the nice features of Sophia Coppola, evident in interviews and public affairs, is that she knows perfectly well to whom and what she owes her success, and does not try to look like an author, gnawing at every new film, or successor, to whom everything fell from the sky. She is the director of an independent film with films that do not always collect cash, makes a movie from beginning to end long, dreary and in detail: six years is the life cycle of her film from idea to realization. Her main assistants in producing have always been brother Roman and father - with whom she is so fond of comparing.
Francis Ford Coppola is the soul and motor of New Hollywood, one of the most interesting trends in cinema of the 20th century, born on the ruins of the old Hollywood studio system. Growing up as artisans in the film industry category B, Coppola and his peers (Scorsese, Spielberg, De Palma, Friedkin, Cassavetis) were the first in many years to approve the right of final editing - that is, complete control over all the filmed material and what went into film. They shot early works independently and knew the price of each frame, each actor and each scenario error. Someone in this situation more often succeeded (Spielberg), someone triumph alternated with failure (in fact, Coppola itself), someone spent money earned in the Hollywood industry on the production of non-conventional cinema (Cassavetis). Many of Sophia’s father’s films failed at the box office, others didn’t receive recognition on time, and despite the illusory omnipotence, the New Hollywood generation often walked on thin ice — balancing between their good name, bold scripts and studios’s desire to make an uncomplicated production project once a year, which all tumble down.
Sofia Coppola is the director of a new generation of independent cinema, where the loopholes for the author's vision remain the same. Like her father, she insists on final editing and because of this she abandoned the promising Disney blockbuster The Little Mermaid. Most often, it holds on to an average or small budget (“Fateful Temptation” costs 10 million dollars, “Somewhere” cost 7, and “Difficulties of Translation” - 4), presenting films at festivals and not worrying about the box office. In interviews, she often emphasizes that women in the film industry are much less focused on making a profit from movies and treat rolling failure as another mess of a difficult and unpredictable business. Sofia has no desire to film her Godfather, and the generation of smart Hollywood directors now looks different. Coppola is surrounded by people like Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach, she was married to Spike Jonze - and this is the circle of directors who, despite their name at festivals and in the industry, also often risk, fail at the box office and bend their fingers with a cross to make them new the film gave them peace and opportunity to film the next one.
Fatherly ambitions to keep the script under control, write it yourself and have leverage on producers were transferred not only to Sofia, but to the whole new generation of author films, where the director is almost always the author of the idea and the final text. Emphasis, however, shifted: and if in New Hollywood, no one very successful directorial career among women happened (it was a men's club and a sexist time), now this is a rare, but possible scenario (Kelly Reichardt, Andrea Arnold, Lynn Ramsey - the same important part of the festival movement as the more promoted Sofia Coppola). Plus, in the Sofia Coppola film crews, more than half of the participants are women, whether they are producers, cameramen, costume designers, or just assistants on the set.
Keyword: vulnerability
Sophia has been working on the topic of vulnerability from her debut, “Virgin Suicides”, where the insecurity of children from their parents is the basis for the survival of the system. The main discoveries of the heroines and the most painful experiences are connected with vulnerability: at the moment when they want to independently manage their feelings, they are overtaken by inevitable parental control and censure. In the “Difficulties of Translation”, the vulnerability of both the unloved and lonely protagonists is striking, but voicing expectations and feelings will make them only sadder, therefore they have at their disposal views, songs, innocent joint activities, talk about distractions and other half-hints.
Maria Antoinette's vulnerability is in her gender: the era dictates a woman to be a wife and mother, and before the birth of children with the king together, the young girl from Austria is simply not perceived as an independent person, she is always a resource for something else. The tragedy of playing a role, not feeling affection for the family, is what the helpless and frightened heroine learns to cope with by increasing the circle of loved ones and like-minded people around her.
The fragility of the relationship between father and daughter in “Somewhere” is emphasized by the temporary situation: the mother leaves the daughter to the father for an indefinite period and the barely formed thread of intimacy can break at any time. Their family is also fragile because the father’s selfish career choice gives him too little personal space even for himself: the resource of attention, love, and total time can disappear at any minute.
In "Elite Society", vulnerability is what feeds juvenile delinquents who break into celebrity homes to measure Paris Hilton shoes or steal Megan Fox's bag. Their impunity, of course, will end sooner or later, but to live as if there is no punishment, and there can be no, an art that is owned only by people with privileges, as Coppola self-ironically asserts. In Fatal Temptation, Sofia tries on vulnerability on all heroes in turn: this is a soldier who injured his leg, who cannot leave a closed society without healing, and a small group of women and girls with Stockholm syndrome who feel their own pain and pleasure.
Talent to combine everything at once
In her youth, Sofia Coppola dreamed of being the chief editor of a fashion magazine, and for good reason: her outlook and outlook on life allow her to collect the texture for a film without asking anyone for advice. She doesn’t need any tips to understand that Brian Ferry is the perfect soundtrack for both the unloud date and the entry background to the advertisement with Imogen Putts. She is well aware of the rebellious music of the 80s, to collect an alternative OST by the end of the XVIII century from New Order and The Cure. It is enough for her to be herself to swim in front of Jurgen Teller in the pool with a bottle of perfume Marc Jacobs: Sofia is so calm, relaxed and joyful that she sells the idea of perfumes without spending any effort.
She knows how to get to Versailles on preferential terms to shoot palaces and parks, and finds ideal use for the Oscar-winning dresser Milena Canonero. She can turn a note about thieves from Vanity Fair into an unobtrusive essay about the spirit of the times and the thirst for approval - and takes the gunfire from the heart of New Hollywood to put your favorite actresses Kirsten Dunst and El Fanning in it. She recycles the story of her failed move to Tokyo into a sad tale of confused strangers in a city of opportunities where they don’t want anything. And thinks about how to pack a daily Hollywood disappointment in those happy moments of intimacy and bliss that we will remember at the very end. Coppola has no equal in how to combine common places from different eras and styles in order for them to have a new meaning, just as in the delicacy with which she does it.
Photo: Getty Images (1, 2), Eternity Pictures, NALA Films, Focus Features
