Sofia Coppola’s Bedrooms

“We shot hours of footage of the sisters lying around together,” the director writes of The Virgin Suicides. Photo: Courtesy of the artist and MACK

Sofia Coppola makes bedroom movies. The Lisbon sisters inhabit a teen-girl fever dream inside a suffocating house in The Virgin Suicides, and Lost in Translation has Bob and Charlotte in bed at the Park Hyatt Tokyo when something like the film’s emotional core reveals itself (he tells her that life gets easier, but that it also doesn’t). The queen’s bed in Marie Antoinette is her cage at the zoo of Versailles, and, in Somewhere, Johnny’s never-ending stay in room 59 at the Chateau Marmont is his isolation, decadence, and failures as a father cast in rich velvets.

In other words: Coppola’s bedrooms are central to how her characters understand themselves and other people — whether the rooms are little temples, or little cells, or some combination of the two. And she takes the same care with them regardless, which becomes clear paging through Archive, a collection of the ephemera and influences behind her films.

The Virgin Suicides (2000)

“When I read that book, I had such a clear image of its world, and how I saw it as a film,” Coppola writes of The Virgin Suicides, her feature directorial debut. Photo: Courtesy of the artist and MACK

"Over the making of this film I had my first attempt at bringing my idea of girlhood to life,” Coppola writes. Photos: Courtesy of the artist and MACK.

"Over the making of this film I had my first attempt at bringing my idea of girlhood to life,” Coppola writes. Photos: Courtesy of the artist and... more "Over the making of this film I had my first attempt at bringing my idea of girlhood to life,” Coppola writes. Photos: Courtesy of the artist and MACK.

Lost in Translation (2003)

“I wanted to capture what it felt like to go to Tokyo and all the things on my mind in my late 20s, the things I was trying to figure out,” Coppola writes of Lost in Translation. “I also had a recurring daydream about meeting Bill Murray at the Park Hyatt.” Photo: Courtesy of the artist and MACK

The director in bed on the set of Lost in Translation. Photo: Courtesy of the artist and MACK

Marie Antoinette (2006)

“I walked through Marie Antoinette’s actual bedroom,” the director writes. “They were letting us store our camera equipment there.” Photo: Photo 12 / Alamy Stock Photo

The bedroom, after the march on Versailles. Photo: Courtesy of the artist and MACK

Somewhere (2010)

The Chateau Marmont “let us have a floor to take over and we spent weeks there shooting, becoming part of the residents and life at the hotel at that time.” Photo: Courtesy of the artist and MACK

"I was thinking about the isolation that comes from success, and also about becoming a parent," Coppola writes of Somewhere. "I had spent a lot of time at the Chateau over the years and wanted to capture what it felt like and the kind of things that went on there." Photos: Courtesy of the artist and MACK.

"I was thinking about the isolation that comes from success, and also about becoming a parent," Coppola writes of Somewhere. "I had spe... more "I was thinking about the isolation that comes from success, and also about becoming a parent," Coppola writes of Somewhere. "I had spent a lot of time at the Chateau over the years and wanted to capture what it felt like and the kind of things that went on there." Photos: Courtesy of the artist and MACK.

Photo: Courtesy of the artist and MACK

Priscilla (2023)

"On this set, I totally felt in my element, doing what I love," Coppola writes of Priscilla. Photos: Courtesy of Andrew Durham and MACK.

"On this set, I totally felt in my element, doing what I love," Coppola writes of Priscilla. Photos: Courtesy of Andrew Durham and MACK.

A mood board for Priscilla. Photo: Courtesy of the artist and MACK

"William Eggleston’s still lifes of Graceland were a big inspiration." Photos: Courtesy of Andrew Durham and MACK.

"William Eggleston’s still lifes of Graceland were a big inspiration." Photos: Courtesy of Andrew Durham and MACK.