It’s a classic setup: The filmmaker follows a creative genius before the reveal of a major new work, chronicling preparations and fears, pains and pleasures, with an elegant and obvious endpoint. Creator creates, we watch, triumph delivered. That framing works for all kinds of stories, but at its best it moves beyond the prescriptive tendencies.
It’s satisfying to see the painting finished, the house built, or the book complete, but it’s the process that makes these stories truly compelling. This appears to compel Sofia Coppola’s first documentary, “Marc by Sofia.” The film ostensibly follows fashion designer and icon Marc Jacobs as he readies his his spring 2024 show (both the collection and its eye-popping runway event), but it’s far more concerned with the act of creating itself.
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Fans of Jacobs (this includes Coppola, long a friend and collaborator) will find a few autobiographical tidbits, but “Marc by Sofia” wants to know Jacobs as creator first, person second. (Sections in which we learn more about his biography, including his childhood and first forays into fashion, are delightful; the film could have benefitted from more of that context.)
Jacobs gets the assignment, or perhaps the assignment gets him. In Coppola’s interviews, he scans as self-deprecating and a bit reserved. Even with the built-in comfort of being interviewed by a close friend (whose queries run the gamut, from basic to startlingly deep), Jacobs is reticent to talk much about himself. He prefers chatting about his many inspirations and what makes them great — Elizabeth Taylor, Bob Fosse, Barbra Streisand, Liza Minnelli, Diana Ross, Joan Crawford, Anna Sui, Cindy Sherman, his beloved grandmother, and the very concept of camp. Coppola splashes the screen with kaleidoscopic clips and a collage-like energy to show off their genius.
Seeking to chronicle some of Jacobs’ interests and obsessions, Coppola can veer too far afield. A segment that follows the debut of Kim Gordon and Daisy von Furth’s punk fashion line X-Girl, for instance, is only tangentially related to Jacobs’ work (its first guerilla-style show took place outside of a Marc Jacobs runway show) and there’s no exploration of how he reacted to it. (Archival footage of Coppola and Spike Jonze, who helped produce the X-Girl show, is still fun to see.)
Jacobs might balk at explaining his intellect and rigor, but snippets of everything from photos of Sherman’s early work to a favorite sequence from Fosse’s “Sweet Charity” provide a window into his mind and heart. Still, with the spring show looming (the documentary opens 12 weeks before the event), Coppola’s film has a distinctive engine driving it forward. There’s no question that Jacobs and his team will deliver; even in moments in which they squabble over fabrics and try to figure out the exact shade of the models’ fingernail polish, it’s clear the show will go on.
That’s also the crux of Jacobs’ internal creative battle. It’s never been a question of if his work will turn out, but how. And, moreover, how he will feel about it when it’s over. While most of Jacobs’ interviews take place in his workshop, a later chat unfolds at his home. With hat combination of location and timing (the show had concluded mere hours ago), his exhaustion gives way to a deeper introspection and honesty. He’s tired, he tells Coppola. He’s always so tired after a show, never relieved, barely ever satisfied, doomed to spend the following weeks not reveling in his success but picking over the ways it might have been better.
It’s the most honest moment in a film that brims with them. That someone as successful as Jacobs is so beset by a lack of confidence is a compelling conceit — it also speaks to Coppola’s own interest in the subject, admirable indeed — but in “Marc by Sofia,” we really believe him. He really is just that worried, always that worried. That might be the best lesson of the film: The creative act never ends, how you feel about it always changes, and staying open to that is the most fashionable choice of all.
Grade: B
“Marc by Sofia” premiered at the 2025 Venice Film Festival. A24 will distribute it in the United States.
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