The Cinema of Sofia Coppola - (BFI Film Classics) by Suzanne Ferriss (Hardcover)

About the Book

"The Cinema of Sofia Coppola provides the first comprehensive analysis of Coppola's oeuvre that situates her work broadly in relation to contemporary artistic, social and cultural currents. Suzanne Ferriss considers the central role of fashion - in its various manifestations - to Coppola's films, exploring fashion's primacy in every cinematic dimension: in film narrative; costuming, production, sound and music design; cinematography; and in branding/marketing. She also explores the theme of celebrity, including Coppola's own celebrity persona. Ferriss analyzes each of Coppola's six films individually, categorizing them in two groups: films where fashion commands attention (Marie Antoinette, The Beguiled and The Bling Ring) and those where clothing and material goods do not stand out ostentatiously, but are essential in establishing characters' identities and relationships (The Virgin Suicides, Lost in Translation and Somewhere). Throughout, Ferriss draws on approaches from scholarship on fashion, film, visual culture, art history, celebrity and material culture to capture the complexities of Coppola's engagement with fashion. Sofia Coppola and Cinema is beautifully illustrated with colour images from Sofia Coppola's films, artworks and advertising artefacts"--

Book Synopsis

The Cinema of Sofia Coppola provides the first comprehensive analysis of Coppola's oeuvre that situates her work broadly in relation to contemporary artistic, social and cultural currents. Suzanne Ferriss considers the central role of fashion - in its various manifestations - to Coppola's films, exploring fashion's primacy in every cinematic dimension: in film narrative; production, costume and sound design; cinematography; marketing, distribution and auteur branding. She also explores the theme of celebrity, including Coppola's own director-star persona, and argues that Coppola's auteur status rests on an original and distinct visual style, derived from the filmmaker's complex engagement with photography and painting.

Ferriss analyzes each of Coppola's six films, categorizing them in two groups: films where fashion commands attention (Marie Antoinette, The Beguiledand The Bling Ring) and those where clothing and material goods do not stand out ostentatiously, but are essential in establishing characters' identities and relationships (The Virgin Suicides, Lost in Translationand Somewhere). Throughout, Ferriss draws on approaches from scholarship on fashion, film, visual culture, art history, celebrity and material culture to capture the complexities of Coppola's engagement with fashion, culture and celebrity. The Cinema of Sofia Coppola is beautifully illustrated with color images from her films, as well as artworks and advertising artefacts.

Review Quotes

Ferriss offers a sophisticated and wide-ranging analysis of Coppola's films and their intersections with fashion, art and celebrity culture. This is the first study, in particular, that positions Coppola's aesthetic preoccupations from the perspective of neither feminism nor post-feminism, but rather from that of art history. This book, therefore, offers a genuinely new, vital and fascinating take on a currently neglected, or under-studied, aspect of Coppola's oeuvre. Ferriss combines rich analysis with extensive knowledge of Coppola's artistic influences and writes both lucidly and beautifully. This study will be indispensable to both undergraduate students and serious scholars of not only film, but also those working in interdisciplinary subjects such as fashion studies, gender studies and art history.

Scholar Ferriss traces and deconstructs how Coppola's knowledge of interior design, fashion, architecture, art and music informs every aspect of her movies - and their carefully crafted, painterly compositions - and illuminates how deftly style becomes substance.
Everything Zoomer

Suzanne Ferriss's timely and lively book makes a convincing case for considering Sofia Coppola a designer as much as a director, creating beautifully fashioned story worlds. Threading together analysis of Coppola's use of costume, her carefully curated locations, and her eclectic range of photographic and fine art references, this book will appeal not just to devotees of Coppola but also scholars interested in the vibrant interconnections Ferriss demonstrates between fashion, film, and visual cultures.

About the Author

Suzanne Ferriss is Professor Emeritus at Nova Southeastern University, USA. She has published extensively on fashion, film and cultural studies, co-editing Chick Flicks: Contemporary Women at the Movies (2008), Footnotes: On Shoes (2001) and On Fashion (1994), among other titles. She has also co-authored An Alternative History of Bicycles and Motorcycles (2016) and Motorcycle (2008).