Teenage Girlhood Through the Films of Sofia Coppola
collage by Maria Tapia
Whether you look back fondly or wish you could forget them all together (or maybe you’re still living them), it is well known that many view their teenage years as a pivotal period in their lives. This time is often characterized by moments of excitement, carelessness, boredom, and plain teenage awkwardness. From those trashy teen rom-coms to the entire coming-of-age genre, adolescence is a subject matter that has been heavily explored by many filmmakers, past and present.
With films that range from being emotional and intimate to flashy and fun, writer and director Sofia Coppola has made her mark on the world of modern cinema. In regards to her style of filmmaking, Coppola has said that she makes the films she herself would have wanted to see when she was younger: films that focus on young women, many times specifically on teenage girls who find themselves in complicated situations or just in a world that they refuse to conform to. Coppola’s focus on the female perspective in many of the works she has adapted for the screen gives audiences a chance to see and understand things through the mind of a teenage girl. For the girls who daydream, feel lost, and from time to time maybe feel a bit rebellious, Sofia Coppola’s films depict those emotions and experiences on screen.
The Virgin Suicides (1999)
Coppola’s directorial debut The Virgin Suicides, an adaptation of the novel by Jeffrey Eugenides, is a captivating depiction of teenage angst and melancholy. The Lisbon sisters live a restrictive lifestyle, confined to their suburban home by their overprotective parents. An aura of mystery surrounds the teenage girls, making them objects of fascination for a group of local neighbourhood boys. When the youngest, Cecilia, attempts suicide, she is asked by her psychiatrist why she tried to do so, to which she replies “obviously, doctor, you’ve never been a thirteen year old girl.” While her statement is dismissed, it is also the first instance in the film that highlights how being a teenage girl is something uniquely understood not by any adults in the film and definitely not by the boys narrating the story, but by a teenage girl herself.
The film reaches a turning point when Lux Lisbon (played by frequent Coppola collaborator Kirsten Dunst) kickstarts a whirlwind romance with school heartthrob Trip Fontaine (played by Josh Hartnett). On the night of homecoming, Lux and Trip have sex on the school football field. In the morning Lux wakes up alone, abandoned by Trip. While having to deal with heartbreak and shame, Lux also comes home to face the wrath of her parents for violating curfew. As punishment, the Lisbon sisters are stripped of any contact from the outside world, essentially made prisoners in their own home. During this time Lux resorts to rebellious and promiscuous behaviour. While the situation of the Lisbon sisters is perhaps extreme, it is the overlying feelings of entrapment, loneliness, and boredom they experience that many relate to. Coppola’s smart direction paired with dreamy visuals gives the film an overtly feminine tone, even though the story is told through the male gaze. While the Lisbon girls are a mystery to the boys in the film, for many young female viewers they reflect aspects of their own adolescence.
The Beguiled (2017)
Set in the of the midst of the American Civil War, The Beguiled revolves around a group of women and girls who give refuge to a wounded enemy soldier (played by Colin Farrel) in their small school. An adaption of the novel by Thomas P. Cullinan and the previous 1971 film version starring Clint Eastwood, Coppola’s version takes on the story through the eyes of its women. Similar to The Virgin Suicides in the sense that many of the characters in The Beguiled have been kept away from the world outside the walls of their small school, in this case due to a war, the introduction of a handsome soldier immediatley fuels a curiosity and desire in the girls, one that is not all rooted in sex (though the film does explore their sexuality), but rather in escapism. When asked about their newfound situation, teenage student Alicia (played by Elle Fanning), answers that perhaps the presence of the soldier serves to “remind [them] that there’s something else in the world besides lessons.” Alicia is reminiscent of The Virgin Suicide’s Lux Lisbon: she is both bored and bold. Although explicitly told not to interact with the soldier, she immediately uses seduction to draw his attention and their subsequent encounter results in much of the turmoil that unfolds later on. The characters range in age from twelve to forty, and to each of them the soldier represents something different. Alicia’s character is emblematic of a teenage rebellion born out of boredom and competition with her peers.
Marie Antoinette (2006)
While the life of a typical teenage girl may not seem to share any similarities with the life of an eighteenth century French monarch, oozing with luxury and excessive indulgence, Coppola’s take on the infamous queen of France in Marie Antoinette (starring Kirsten Dunst in the title role) portrays her in a more familiar and relatable manner. From the beginning of the film, there is an emphasis on Marie’s naivety surrounding her marriage to future king Louis XVI. Clearly unaccustomed and uncomfortable with the expectations placed on her as the future queen and “ridiculous” royal protocol, Marie feels the growing disapproval of the court which compromises the romanticized idea of life she had envisioned for herself in Versailles. Furthermore, Marie is also immediately faced with pressures to consummate her marriage and produce an heir with a husband who fails to make any attempts to do so.
The second half of the film, complemented nicely by a contemporary pop rock soundtrack, mainly features gorgeous parties and expensive shopping sprees, highlighting Marie’s youthful recklessness while France faces financial ruin. Many critics have pointed out historical inaccuracies and accused the film of lacking any actual substance but such critics have failed to see the film as anything but a historical piece. At its core, Marie Antoinette is a pop fuelled, candy-coloured take on teenage girlhood itself, exploring naivety, loneliness, and apathy. Even in all its grandeur and glamour, Coppola is able to portray the famed Marie Antoinette less as a queen, but rather as just another teenager trying to figure out their way in the world.
Overall, these films reflect feelings that many girls experience during their own adolescence. Though most teenage girls don’t hide soldiers in their bedrooms or come from royalty, Sofia Coppola is able to depict the frustrations and desires of these characters in a way that makes for engaging and yet oddly comforting cinema.