Marc Jacobs and Sofia Coppola met in the early 90s, just before they both became household names. Of course they were already part of the cultural zeitgeist; Jacobs was a recent Parsons graduate with buzz behind him and Coppola was an It Girl with plenty of cache. Their friendship has endured for over 30 years; since then they’ve become beloved figures in the pop culture sphere. Who better to make a Marc Jacobs documentary than Sofia?
While Coppola has occasionally dabbled in non-fiction-adjacent projects, Marc by Sofia is her first non-fiction feature. Gone is the gauze, but the montages remain; the film centres on Marc as he preps to deliver his Fall/Winter 2024 collection, but looks back across his career to explore his inspirations and greatest hits. Combining intimate behind-the-scenes footage with sit-down interviews and archive clips, it’s a cinematic scrapbook of sorts, pinning together clips of Bob Fosse and Elizabeth Taylor next to fabric swatches and button samples and mascara wands. For fans of Jacobs and Coppola it’s charming and does give a sense of their closeness, even if it’s all quite surface-level. Jacobs and Coppola are private people and of course don’t owe the viewers their intimate history, but it doesn’t feel like Marc by Sofia even offers a great deal in the way of behind-the-scenes insight into Jacobs the Brand if not Jacobs the Man. For all the talk of how inspired by figures like Fosse, Taylor and Diana Ross he is, the clothes Jacob presents at the end of the film don’t seem to reflect it, and there is a disconnect between what we are being told and what we are being shown.
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Further frustrating is the film’s quite narrow scope, with no consideration for how Jacobs has endured a fickle industry for 30 years, becoming one of the most successful ready-to-wear designers who dresses clients from all backgrounds through his various diffusion lines and perfume brand. It would also have been interesting to hear Jacobs’ views on the fashion world more generally as a bona fide insider; even in a film about him, it feels like there’s not an awful lot of Jacobs there, which is a shame as in moments that appear genuinely unguarded he’s smart and entertaining.
It’s a charming enough documentary, but feel lightweight, begging the question if this is merely a long advert for Marc Jacobs rather than a piece of non-fiction cinema. By no means is it a drag, but Marc by Sofia is a missed opportunity, revealing very little to the extent one thinks it might as well have been a glossy coffee table photobook instead of a film.
