Sofia Coppola: Not Quite the Actor, But One Hell of a Director

When I found out that we were going to be watching Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette (2006), I was quite excited that we'd be watching another film in film class (shocker, I know). But I was also internally giggling in my head, because whenever anyone mentions Sofia Coppola, I can't help but think of her infamous death scene in her father's film, The Godfather Part III. 

I'll admit, having only watched that one particular scene out of the entire Godfather series, I never really took interest into the films and solely cared about Coppola's performance, which has been universally considered to be really bad acting. But for my own education purposes and this blog post, I figured that I'd look into her scenes in the movie to critique her acting and why some people (including me) would consider it bad acting.  

The Godfather Part III: "Dad?"

 

Besides the infamous death scene, I watched a YouTube video that included every scene with Coppola's character, Mary Corleone. Judging from the scenes I've watched and the bare minimum level of comprehension I have of the movie plot, Mary is a caring daughter who wants to help her father and his philanthropy, but is also pursuing her first cousin, Vincent.

Before I say anything, I'm no expert on acting. I've only done a few shows before, but as a movie watcher, I think a person can tell when something in a movie is working for them or not, and Coppola's acting was one of them. To be honest, I think her physical acting was fine, especially her body language. But the thing that didn't work for me was her monotone and stagnant vocal delivery. Coppola's natural voice is similar, being low-pitched, monotoned, and soft spoken which honestly makes it soothing to listen to and work to bring out Mary's seductiveness. Unfortunately, that only works for the scenes that she's supposed to be seductive and soft spoken, and doesn't work elsewhere in the film. For example, in the scene where Mary is presenting a grant of $100,000,000 to the impoverished in Sicily, she gives a brief, but impressive explanation of her father's foundation, which is where the money is coming from. Saying big and witty statements like "$100,000,000 in the name of Vito Corleone" and "Don't spend it all in one place!" would probably result in some change of pitch and cadence in your voice. But not in Sofia Coppola's. Throughout the entire speech (and movie) her speech cadence was continuously slow and stagnant. Her pitch also didn't change much, only in volume did it ever change, which is really prominent, because since this is 19 year-old Coppola in 1990, she has a kind of vocal-fry, California-girl voice (which makes sense as she was raised in Rutherford, California) that doesn't change and honestly only becomes more irritating as the movie goes on. 

Now onto the scene that inspired this entire blog post. In this scene, the Corleones are leaving an opera house after watching the performance of the only son, Anthony. As they are leaving, Mary stops her father on the stairs outside to confront her about his disapproval of seeing Vincent (again, her first cousin, so I think I'm gonna have to side with Al Pacino on this one). A hitman opens fire from afar, intending to kill Mary's dad, and shoots two bullets; one wounding her dad in the arm, and the other going into her chest. After getting shot, she takes a few steps towards her father, falls to her knees, calls for her dad's name, before dropping dead on her back. 

Acting out a death, is probably considered one of the big scenarios that really tests an actor's abilities and talents, and boy did Coppola fail. In her defense, the way she executed Mary's death could have possibly been at the hands of the director (which is ironic because the director is her father, Francis Ford Coppola). But considering the bland acting in all the scenes prior to this one, I think it's fair to say that the way this death was executed was probably on the actress. From the moment Mary got shot to when she drops dead on the floor, there was literally no change of expression, and her final word of, "Dad?" is still in the same pitch, cadence and volume as her lines before. 

I'm really trying to look from every angle to give Coppola the benefit of the doubt. As I said, her execution could have been due to the director's instructions, and I do think it's possible for someone to be in expressionless shock when they get shot. But goodness, the stiff walk to her dad, the long look at her wound, falling on her knees, and calling for her dad in again, the most monotoned voice ever. In my opinion, it was the most anticlimactic death ever, almost comical. And the only thing that made it somewhat salvageable was Al Pacino and Diane Keaton. 

Coppola as an Auteur

Now that I kind of tore apart Coppola's acting, let me focus on her more successful career as a director. I've only seen one movie directed by her, but already from that film, I could tell that she has a very unique style. Looking into her other films like Somewhere (2010) and Lost in Translation (2003), she tends to put her characters in a "gilded cage," where her characters presumably seem like they have everything they need, but in reality don't have much freedom a/o joy within their luxury. Furthermore, her movie themes tend to go into topics that are quite progressive, like femininity, privilege, and loneliness. So I applaud her for making movies that make both her and the audience vulnerable. 

Watching Marie Antoinette, I absolutely loved the aesthetics and overall look of the film. Coppola did really well in portraying the wealth and luxury of 18th century France. I also applaud her for developing Antoinette's confinement in her gilded cage. At first, I thought that the film was a bit slow and empty in terms of narrative and dialogue. But as the film rose to the climax, I think a lot of Antoinette's loneliness and loss of freedom was seamlessly integrated into the plot. By the end of the film, I was able to feel sympathy for Antoinette as she never was really able to escape her gilded cage. At least not without her head being chopped off. 

At the end of the day, we can't be good at everything. But, instead of obsessing over what we're not good at, we can focus on things that we excel and are most comfortable in, which Sofia Coppola did. She went on to win an Oscar for Best Screenplay for Lost in Translation, and also became one of the first women to be nominated for Best Director. I guess like father, like daughter, huh?