Meet ‘Marc by Sofia’

In her debut documentary, Marc by Sofia, filmmaker Sofia Coppola introduces us to her friend, acclaimed fashion designer Marc Jacobs. But we don’t really get to know him.

Marc by Sofia★★★ (3/5 stars)
Directed by: Sofia Coppola
Starring: Marc Jacobs, Sofia Coppola
Running time: 97 mins

A24 promotes Marc by Sofia as an intimate portrait. It’s true that Coppola and her subject have known each other for some thirty years, and the film is intimate in as much as they are intimate friends, but nearly nothing intimate is revealed. Instead, the audience is held at a distance. Perhaps as a result of their long-term celebrity status, both Jacobs and Coppola seem pretty closed off subjects. While it seems that their friendship might offer her untethered access, their very closeness seems to limit her – she never pushes her subject to a point of discomfort, or even presses him beyond what he willingly offers.

At one point, Coppola asks if Jacobs created fantasy worlds as an escape from an unhappy childhood. He briefly entertains the idea, but moves on quickly, and the film never circles back. It feels as though Coppola is respecting her friend’s privacy, which may be admirable, but doesn’t make for much of a film, particularly given the absence of a narrator, outside experts, or a driving question.

Rather than a story, Marc by Sofia feels like an introduction at a celebrity-heavy cocktail party. Sofia is introducing us to her friend Marc. She thinks he’s awesome and loves his work. He’s somewhat self-effacing, she points him toward his accomplishments, he is happy to discuss them. We don’t ever learn what drives him, or crack the code on his design process – except that he wishes he had one. We see him pull from a wide and eclectic range of influences and he loves a good juxtaposition – like “defacing” the Louis Vuitton monogram label with graffiti or anime colors– but is he just really good at curating his influences and surrounding himself with good people? Or is there something more? The film leaves these questions unanswered.

Marc by Sofia follows Jacobs through the 12 weeks leading up to the debut of his 2024 Spring Collection at New York’s fashion week. Coppola makes fine use of this structure, counting down the weeks and days leading up to the show, incorporating archival footage of the designer, his influences, past work and friends, along with an impressive array of film clips to give context to Jacobs’ work dating back to his days as a wunderkind at Parsons. Despite this framework, Coppola’s film seems to lack a clear vision. As Jacobs figures things out in real time, the film meanders with him.

Sometimes the film’s digressions are charming: Jacobs has a sense of humor about the women he’s dressed for their courtroom trials: Winona Ryder, Lil’ Kim and Courtney Love (someone make this documentary!). It also leads to repeated shots of fabric swatches and nail color selection, and lots of conversations about stocking opacity. Jacobs uses live models at many stages of his process and the film makes it clear that patience is a model’s most important attribute. By the third or so shot of endless fabric swatches, the audience’s patience is also tried. Luckily, renowned fashion fashion editor Chad Sipkin expertly weaves together the outside clips with footage of Jacob’s past work and shows, with wit and satisfying precision. The film would be thin without these lively additions.

Indeed, Marc by Sofia is most satisfying when the eponymous duo discuss third parties, whether those be influences like Yves Saint Laurent or his tony grandmother, or the world surrounding his controversial “Grunge” collection at Pierre Cardin (the period during which the two first connected). Jacobs geeks out about some of his inspirations — and it’s fun to see their impact on his designs, especially in clips from Hello Dolly (the first film Jacobs saw in a theatre), Sweet Charity and Cabaret (Jacobs mentions Bob Fosse more than once, but the costume designers of those films go uncredited), as well as Fassbinder’s high camp melodrama The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant. Spangled dresses worn by The Supremes in an obscure telecast provide a veritable blueprint for some of the 2024 collection and Elizabeth Taylor’s style also contributes — “All roads lead to Liz” Jacobs smiles as he shows a jeweled brocade jacket, inspired by one she wore.

Coppola’s ability to wrangle the rights to a wide range of films, as well as a soundtrack that features songs from Blondie, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Sonic Youth, and an exclusive demo by The Strokes, speaks to her influence and her instinct to do so reflects the artistic instincts of her subject. The friends are cut from similar cloth. They muse that NY was a small world in the 90’s. No doubt it felt that way in their influential circle, it feels like a small clique to the watching audience too.

His 2024 show is a success – the clothes aren’t wearable but will inspire his ready-to-wear collection. The use of space and the presentation are visually arresting and smart. Set in an enormous warehouse sized room in the Park Avenue Armory, the models, with outsized teased wigs and ink stained lashes, wearing oversized clothes, look like paper dolls as they enter under an oversized card table and folding chairs by artist Robert Therrien. Four years before, Jacobs collaborated with ballerina Karol Armitage to stage a headline making show in the same space. One thing is clear: Jacobs’ pull allows him to  collaborate with disparate A-list artists including musician Pharell Williams, alt rock band Sonic Youth, artist Takashi Murakami, and he makes full use of their talents. Late in the film, he muses that in another life he would have liked to have been a theater director. Both on stage and in his collections, this proclivity shines through.

Coppola may have intended to paint a portrait, rather than to tell a story. Though the lush visuals and anecdotes are frequently amusing, Coppola’s failure to interrogate Jacobs’ claims or motives robs us of the opportunity for insight or revelation. Marc by Sofia succeeds in showcasing Jacobs’ considerable talents, not so much those of Coppola, whose talents better serve her works of fiction.