Soft Serve’s Sofia Coppola Essentials

To celebrate The Film Club’s screening of The Virgin Suicides at The Prince Charles Cinema, the Soft Serve crew has put our heads together to create the essential Sofia Coppola watchlist.

To celebrate The Film Club’s screening of The Virgin Suicides at The Prince Charles Cinema, the Soft Serve crew has put our heads together to create the essential Sofia Coppola watchlist.

From dreamy visuals to bittersweet soundtracks, Coppola’s films are unmistakably her own—subtle, stylish, and emotionally resonant. Whether you're new to her work or a long-time fan, this curated list is your perfect guide to one of cinema’s most distinctive voices.

Lick The Star (1998)

Why we love it: A perfect glimpse of Sofia’s raw beginnings: messy, mischievous, and full of teenage angst, with her fascination for girlhood and quiet rebellion already shining through. Barely 14 minutes long and on YouTube, so really no excuse not to watch! - Oriana

The Virgin Suicides (1999)

Why we love it: There’s a dreamy haunting quality to this film that stays with you long after the credits roll. Sofia captures the fragile, mysterious world of adolescence with such empathy and quiet intensity, it’s like stepping into a memory you didn’t know you had. The film feels both distant and deeply personal, wrapped in beautiful visuals and a nostalgic soundtrack that makes it utterly unforgettable. - Oriana

Lost in Translation (2003)

Why we love it:

The pain of love and loneliness, the incommunicability of the soul, the act of letting go. Quiet on the outside but visceral in its spirit, Lost in Translation cuts right through you the moment you are just about to let your guard down. A favorite of mine that I can rarely bring myself to watch again. But every time is absolutely worth it. – Jasmine

Marie Antoinette (2006)

Why we love it: A visual masterpiece. This film encapsulates the female experiences, with the constraints of French court life. Sofia Coppola ensures that the film is emotionally resonant with contemporary audiences,exploring Marie Antionette’s feelings of loneliness, her desires, and anxieties throughout the film. A truly incredible film, not one to be missed! - Charlotte

Girlhood at its finest. A coming of age story that although takes place in a palace, hundreds of years ago, we can all relate to. And perhaps an interesting point of view on a person who was most hated in history and depicted as a vile villain. We almost forget that there’s a world outside those walls, and it looks like she was made to as well. If Marie Antoinette was living today, she would probably be the ambassador of the “I’m just a girl” trend. One of my favorite screenplays, made of silence and introspection among the madness of court life. And every frame is just as delicious as the banquettes shown in the movie. – Jasmine

The Bling Ring (2013)

Why we love it: An observation film based off of a group of teenagers robbing celebrities in the late 2000s? Yes please! The film is shot in an obs doc style, with the characters even speaking to camera at times. Giving a detached perspective of the story of the teenagers who stole over $3 million in cash and belongings. Coppola gives the audience the opportunity to make up their own minds, whilst delving into the obsession with celebrity status culture. There’s even a cameo from Paris Hilton! -Charlotte

The Beguiled (2017)

Why we love it:

Womanhood unfiltered. The things we fear of ourselves, the things we suppress, and that bring us shame. Our most feral instincts and desires out in the open. And a commentary on how a man entering an all female balanced ecosystem can bring all that out and affect that harmony. Love the directing choice of almost leaving us there spying on them. No one is meant to witness any of it. We all know it and so do the characters. I love period pieces and having this come along after Marie Antoinette made me very happy. – Jasmine

Priscilla (2023)

Why we love it: Coppola brings a quiet intimacy to this film that lets us really sit with Priscilla’s experience, and the subtleties of isolation, power and identity. Rather than feeding us the familiar story of Elvis, it asks us to look at the woman beside him and what it truly cost her to be there. -Daisy