Despite the fact that Sofia Coppola descends from Hollywood royalty, the Oscar-winning multi-hyphenate has undoubtedly harnessed her own voice. The daughter of renowned filmmakers Eleanor and Francis Ford Coppola, her career started onscreen with small roles in her father’s films like The Godfather and its sequels, as well as Peggy Sue Got Married. In the late ’90s, Coppola shifted to working behind the camera, and her feature debut, The Virgin Suicides, introduced the world to a writer-director captivated by isolation and adolescent angst.
Coppola’s next outing, Lost in Translation, starring Bill Murray, picked up the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and cemented her cinematic bona fides. While she doesn’t stick to a single genre, Coppola’s movies are often defined by musings on loneliness and fame. In films like the color-drenched Marie Antoinette — which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year — Coppola probes what it means to be a woman living in the world. Her eight features as a writer-director also include the heated Gothic thriller The Beguiled, the frothy father-daughter caper On the Rocks, and the pensive, complicated romance Priscilla. You can take a closer look at Coppola’s work in the films below, now streaming on Netflix.
In 1864, three years into the Civil War, Amy (Oona Laurence), the youngest student at the Farnsworth Seminary for Young Ladies in Virginia, stumbles across injured Union Army corporal John McBurney (Colin Farrell). She escorts him to the school, where he’s begrudgingly taken in by head mistress Martha Farnsworth (Nicole Kidman). While some of the students urge Martha to turn McBurney over to the Confederate soldiers, she decides to let him stay long enough for his wounds to heal, citing her Christian duty. With the oppressive Southern heat broken only by distant gunfire, tension grows among the school’s inhabitants. They become attached to the charming McBurney — and he encourages their affection, sparking dangerous rivalries. Kirsten Dunst (The Power of the Dog) and Elle Fanning (Sentimental Value) also star in Coppola’s 2017 Southern Gothic thriller.
Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff) is a recently divorced actor who lives at the famed Chateau Marmont hotel in Los Angeles. Bored, directionless, and waiting for his broken wrist to heal, the rising star whiles away his lonely days drinking by the pool, watching exotic dancers he’s hired to perform for him, and driving his black Ferrari through the LA streets. The monotony is broken up by the arrival of his 11-year-old daughter, Cleo (Elle Fanning). In the past, Johnny was so focused on his acting career that he never made much time for his kid. But the precocious Cleo soon worms her way into his life, and Johnny is forced to contend with his own inadequacies as a father and a man in Coppola’s meditative 2010 drama. Chris Pontius (Jackass 4.5) and Michelle Monaghan (Little Brother) also star.
Based on Antonia Fraser’s 2001 biography Marie Antoinette: The Journey, Coppola’s candy-colored 2006 historical drama follows the titular queen of France from her arrival at the Palace of Versailles to the eruption of the French Revolution. Portrayed by Kirsten Dunst, the 14-year-old Austrian archduchess Marie Antoinette is married off to the future King Louis XVI (Jason Schwartzman). Her husband’s hesitation to consummate their marriage — and therefore produce an heir — leaves Marie Antoinette open to disdain from the gossipy French courtiers. She fills the void with extravagant parties, opulent gowns, and decadent desserts. When Louis XVI takes the throne, the queen’s lavish taste becomes a point of public ridicule that leads to that all-too-famous quote: “Let them eat cake.” Judy Davis (Ratched), Rip Torn (Men in Black), Rose Byrne (I Am Mother), Molly Shannon (The Hawk), and Jamie Dornan (The Tourist) also star in the film, which won the Oscar for Best Costume Design.
