Sofia Coppola, while working on the set for The Virgin Suicides “made a statement” about
Wearing a dress. It was intentional. The film industry was “a boys’ club” in many respects. In her first book the director writes, “I was determined that I would still be a woman while directing.” Archive (MACK).
Archives, a photography book, is first and foremost a collection of work from the director, as well as friends and collaborators. Coppola, for her part, uses a Contax T3 and Kodak Portra films. This is a good choice, as the film was introduced in 1998 at about the same time she was working on The Virgin Suicides. Her photos from Lose In Translation have been printed in Japan on the spot at a one hour photo printer.
The book includes hidden treasure moments from Sofia Coppola’s entire career. From Paris Hilton’s wardrobe to Jennifer Coolidge’s New Orleans house – filming locations for The Bling Ring or The Beguiled. The book begins in the ’90s, with Priscilla .
We see Eleanor, the mother of the director, working behind the scenes on Somewhere. Her daughter Romy is also visible. The crew of Marie Antoinette were allowed to store the camera equipment at Versailles in Marie Antoinette’s bedroom.
Coppola was taught by Paul Jasmin, an artist who was a pioneer in the field of still photography. Tina Barney’s work was a source of inspiration for the director when he directed The Virgin Suicides, as well as Bill Owens’s 1973 photobook Suburbia. Coppola first met Hiromix before working on Lost In Translation. Her photographs of Tokyo’s “girl culture”, which inspired the visual language in the film, were taken by Hiromix.
Coppola used Guy Bourdin’s photos to inspire the opening scene of Marie Antoinette, while a Jo Ann Callis photo helped her create and expand The beguiled. William Eggleston’s photos of Graceland were a source for Coppola as she developed Priscilla.
Sofia Coppola admitted in a conversation with Vogue and Vanity Fair that she had once viewed the various ephemeras she’d gathered over the years as junk. She revisited the collection during the pandemic when she finally had the time to sift it through. These letters, posters and drafts as well as other archival material offer a unique glimpse into the melancholy, nostalgic world of a pioneering filmmaker over many decades.
Archives is a book that reads (if not even more) like a journal than a coffee table book. This is a book that can be found in quiet library corridors, as well as noisy bedrooms with magazine cutouts and half-empty fragrance bottles. This book is meant to be touched, and flipped through many times. Young and aspiring film-makers might make their own annotations and highlights alongside Coppola, dreaming about the stories they will create one day.