The Films of Sofia Coppola

[wild roses]

The truth is pain is pain, is ugly and raw, but the rawness and ugliness at the same time can be incredibly beautiful, cause its real, cause its what life really is. It's can be pretty, beautiful and ugly. There are so many layers to it and that makes life and art fascinating. Art is sublime, but it dosen't mean it has to always be pretty

.

Exactly. That's why I love Ingmar Bergman Bergman, because his films are unnervingly beautiful, but he's not afraid to show that rawness. Sofia is. Like in MA. We see a scene of MA collapsed against the wall sobbing, and 5 seconds later, it's loud music and food/fashion p*rn. In a Bergman film, he would keep probing the darkness, he wouldn't provide a filler to make you forget the rawness.

I think Sofia is actually more akin to Ozu. Except even Ozu doesn't shy away from confrontatation or change. Like in LIT, when asked about the self-help tapes by Bob, Charlotte embarrassingly says she doesn't know who owns them (insert me rolling eyes so hard). Ozu's films show how and why denial shouldn't be romanticized, whereas with Sofia denial is the main the reason.

BTW: I do think Sofia presents her main characters as flawed ,but I think she expects us an audience to overlook their flaws. Like it's always someone else's fault fault. Not Plain Jane said something about their problematic circumstances being external. That to me is an example of Holden Caulfielding. Of course, we the audience know HC and like characers are flawed, but Holden doesn't see himself as seriously flawed...he just needs a change in situation to make everything better. Charlotte knows there's something wrong with her marriage, but she doesn't examine how her constant clingingness, judgmental character, and lack of life outside her husband might be contributing. She doesn't think it's her, she thinks it's him. Same with Bob. He knows his marriage in trouble, but does he examine his factors. Nor, instead the film trivializes his wife. We the audience are allowed to admit Charlotte and Bob have flaws to make them "real" but we're not supposed to focus on their flaws, but those surrounding them making the characters miserable.

 

[Not Plain Jane]

Art is sublime

Not all art is sublime. Burke, Kant, etc. are very specific about the sublime.

Not all art has to probe the ugliness and pain. And don't get me wrong! I love gothic and horror film and lit; I also love Bergman a lot (just watched Virgin Spring the weekend before last). But that doesn't preclude me from liking a quieter side of things too, a more lyrical depiction of life, as opposed to realist or dark.

Interestingly, Sofia's work has been called gothic AND sublime! I tend to agree, but especially with Virgin Suicides, because it's so entropic.

Coppola’s primary characters seem to be caught between convention and indeterminacy, a distinctly Gothic trap. According to Vijay Mishra, Gothic characters are “shadowed by others and their individuality, their radical difference or uniqueness, dismantled through a technique of duplication or uncanny repetition” (p. 54). Coppola gives her primary characters a Gothic twist replacing the older, brooding, tired masculine figure and the young, naive heroine with a feminine adventurer who provides the masculine figure with the motivation and opportunity to journey into the unfamiliar landscape. Charlotte offers Bob an invitation to explore the unimaginable and unknowable in Tokyo, ultimately a sublime experience that defamiliarises and renews his perspective.

source: http://sensesofcinema.com/2004/feature-articles/lost_in_translation/

I think it's a matter of perspective. I see her characters acknowledging their own flaws, being self-deprecating. Charlotte admits she's floundering and feels insecure. Bob admits that marriage is hard and that he's going through a midlife crisis. He also acts rather ashamed of his career and the entire reason he's in Tokyo. But their relationship and the wonders of the city allow them to explore, albeit briefly (a short moment of Joyceian epiphany), what life is like beyond their marital and career issues - it's a fleeting moment explored via the entire film. A twinkle in the dark. The darkness, the loneliness is there. But Sofia chooses to focus on a moment of lightness in being.

That's not shallow to my mind; it's just a different take.

 

[Not Plain Jane]

I'd also argue that most of Sofia's work, while never overtly political, is none the less subtly feminist in terms of her depiction of relationships. Her characters rebel against parental cloistering, empty marriages, and pointless traditions; they seek deeper connections and personal autonomy/happiness simultaneously.

 

[jml2]

well Bob and Charlotte's elitism in regards to the idiots around them is one of my favourite things. And how they escape in to their own world together. I love it. That was the best movie in the world. No other movie has been as affecting.
Her movies after that one have felt shallow though.

 

[HeatherAnne]

 

[sobriquet87]

The teaser was excellent. I can't wait to get a longer trailer.
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[wild roses]

I have to say I'm officilly intrigued. I haven't been impressed by Emma's films outside of HP (which pains me to say cuz I think she's talented), but if Sofia can turn Emma into a convincing bad girl, I'll have take back most of what I said about Sofia.

(Also, it's nice that she's tackling privilege and celebrity from a different angle.)

 

[Deleted member 116957]

Wasn't Kristen Dunst supposed to be in The Bling Ring (playing a Paris Hilton-esque character, I assume)? Does anybody know why she was dropped?

I kind of like that she's filming something based on The Bling Ring. I mean it's a pretty inconsequential event, overall, but it's kind of an interesting reflection on the current state of celebrity and people obsessed with them. The Vanity Fair article about the robberies was really interesting.

 

[chickadee]

As far as I know, Dunst is still in the film, but I don't know who she is playing. Paris Hilton is playing Paris Hilton.

 

[Deleted member 116957]

^ Even better than a Paris inspired character!

 

[KoV]

I don't think Dunst was ever supposed to play a character. She was photographed on set (and later said she was just visiting Coppola) and that spawned the rumors about her having a role.

Secretly I hope/think she will have a fun cameo.

 

[TREVOFASHIONISTO]

is this movie inspired by the girl from that reality show Pretty Wild? she was arrested along with her friends for breaking into Orlando Blooms home

 

[KoV]

That girl was one of the members of "The Bling Ring" yes (Emma Watson is playing a character based on the Alexis Niers from Pretty Wild, Leslie Mann is playing the mom) but in real life, she was not really one of the main members of the group. This films is based on the Vanity Fair article from a few years back chronicling the events.

 

[Deleted member 116957]

I would love it if they could re-create this scene in the movie, somehow:

 

[YoninahAliza]

Oh my god, I'd never seen a clip of Pretty Wild before and well, that was an eye-opener. This is probably absolutely horrible to say, but having watched that video, I'm even more interested in seeing Sofia's spin on it. I couldn't help but cringe throughout that one clip from The Soup, I wonder if I'll feel like cringing throughout the film as well? That girl in the clip seems completely out of touch with reality. And her mother seems like a bit of a nightmare as well. My favorite bit was when she left a message on the writer of the VF article's phone telling her that she didn't wear 6'' Louboutin heels to court... it was pretty amusing. Also, you have got to love Joel Mchale's tongue in cheek sense of humor, it's so spot on!

 

[KoV]

"TWENTY NINE DOLLARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

hehehe


In any event, I have read the script and I can't remember for certain (I read it about a year ago) but I don't think that's in the movie. Pretty Wild, or what I've seen of it anyway, takes place after the events of the movie.

 

[Deleted member 116957]

Yeah, I figured as much, but it would have been hilarious.

 

[TREVOFASHIONISTO]

Yeah, I figured as much, but it would have been hilarious.

my friends and i have been rewatching this clip all weekend. We now refer to each other as nancy jo

 

[TREVOFASHIONISTO]

Oh my god, I'd never seen a clip of Pretty Wild before and well, that was an eye-opener. This is probably absolutely horrible to say, but having watched that video, I'm even more interested in seeing Sofia's spin on it. I couldn't help but cringe throughout that one clip from The Soup, I wonder if I'll feel like cringing throughout the film as well? That girl in the clip seems completely out of touch with reality. And her mother seems like a bit of a nightmare as well. My favorite bit was when she left a message on the writer of the VF article's phone telling her that she didn't wear 6'' Louboutin heels to court... it was pretty amusing. Also, you have got to love Joel Mchale's tongue in cheek sense of humor, it's so spot on!

the full clip is horrible after she's done the mom congratulates her on what a good job she did at expressing herself

 

[LagerfeldBoy]

I just read the script for the movie and I'm so excited now!
In the script, the character that's based off of Alexis is being interviewed by Vanity Fair and gets cut off by her mom and so she start yelling at her. It reminded me of the that scene above from Pretty Wild (lbr, iconic E! series. )