Film School: Sofia Coppola

The Virgin Suicides (1999) The Virgin Suicides (1999)

A critical look the aesthetic and motifs of the director’s filmography.

Broey Deschanel responds to “bad faith critics” of director Sofia Coppola‘s films. This video essay argues that the “soft femininity” Coppola’s films portray is often unfairly dismissed despite being as worthy a film subject in both style and substance as any, and that their slightness is mistaken for superficiality despite being demonstrably steeped in rich artistic traditions:

Fandor explores a recurring motif mentioned in the video essay above, in this short and (very) sweet supercut of Sofia Coppola’s gilded cages:

Fandor looks at the use of various colour palettes across the director’s filmography (more on film colour palettes here):

Self-proclaimed “Sofia Coppola warriorthéo pays to tribute to the director’s work with these “Sofia Coppola movies as album covers”:

Further Viewing

Broey Deschanel notes that the under-representation of female directors at the most celebrated levels of Hollywood places an unfair responsibility on Coppola to represent all female voices. Filmmakers such as Victoria Hochberg and Dr Karen Perlman explore this lack of representation, and its continued effects both on the business and on the cultural impact of film:

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