Somewhere (film)
Encyclopedia
Somewhere is a 2010 American
drama film
that was written and directed by Sofia Coppola
. The film follows Johnny Marco, a newly famous actor, as he recuperates from a minor injury at the Chateau Marmont, a well-known Hollywood retreat. Despite money, fame and professional success, Marco is trapped in an existential crisis
and feels little emotion during his daily life. When his ex-wife suffers an unexplained breakdown and goes away, she leaves Cleo, their 11-year-old daughter, with him. They spend time together; her presence helps Marco mature and accept adult responsibility. The film explores ennui among Hollywood stars, the father-daughter relationship and offers an oblique comedy of show business, particularly Hollywood film-making and the life of a "star
".
Somewhere was first shown at the 67th Venice International Film Festival
where it received the Golden Lion
award for best picture. Critical opinion was mixed to positive. Reviewers praised the patience of the visual style and the film's empathy for a handful of characters, but some found it to be too repetitive of previous themes in Coppola's work, or did not sympathise with the protagonist
because of his relative success. It was released to select theatres in the United Kingdom and Ireland on 10 December 2010, and in the United States on 22 December 2010.
) steps out. A Hollywood actor, who, despite his recent rise to fame, does not feel much meaning in his life. He resides at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles
from where he completes various publicity obligations for his new film: he is photographed with his co-star (Michelle Monaghan
), gives interviews to the press, and attends an award ceremony in Italy
. Despite drinking and socializing occasionally with Sammy (Chris Pontius
), an old friend, Marco spends much time alone, driving his Ferrari
motorcar, drinking beer, taking pills, and having casual sex with various women. Twice he has two pole-dancing twins (Kristina and Karissa Shannon) set up their equipment and perform in his room, the first time he falls asleep and the second routine is more calisthenic than erotic.
He receives an unexpected visit from his 11-year-old daughter, Cleo (Elle Fanning
). Her stay changes his lifestyle little at first, including his indulging an overnight visitor, a blonde woman. Marco and his daughter spend time together in his hotel suite and he brings her with him on his daily routine and on a publicity trip to Milan
, and through preparations for her departure to summer camp. As their time together grows, Marco's fatherly emotions emerge and force him to re-assess his otherwise 'successful' life. At the end, Marco checks out of the hotel promising not to return, and drives his Ferrari into the countryside. He gets out, leaving the keys in the ignition, and walks down the highway smiling.
(2003) depicts an encounter and brief friendship between two lonely Americans in a luxurious Tokyo hotel; Marie Antoinette
(2006), a stylised biopic of the eponymous queen, examined her loneliness. Somewhere examines similar themes of success and isolation, but from a male perspective. The film explores Marco's seclusion and depression despite his outward professional success and the resulting wealth and fame. He appears to suffer from anhedonia
, the inability to feel pleasure, but the film itself is reticent in suggesting its causes. "He believes he's nothing", summarized Roger Ebert
, "and it appears he's correct". The film's opening shot, a Ferrari circling a race-track in and out of a stationary camera position, its whine and roar rising and falling, establishes the theme of ennui. The sequence's length also offers a visual cue from Coppola to relax, observe and withhold expectations. Coppola said she wanted to hint at this with a simple camera set-up, "so you're alone with this guy and not aware that it's a movie. But I hope it's a welcome contrast to the style of most movies out there. Something that gives you a chance to take a breath".
The Chateau Marmont, a well-known retreat for Hollywood celebrities, is the film's setting and can be "either a paradise of easy wish-fulfillment or a purgatory of celebrity anomie" (A.O. Scott), but Coppola subtly conveys the emptiness of Marco's situation without denying its appeal. Coppola has stayed at the hotel, and said "I've seen a few Johnny Marcos"; in contrast, writing the part of the daughter, she drew on childhood experiences with her director father, Francis Ford Coppola
, such as attending film festivals, though she denied the film was autobiographical. Coppola said that cultural depictions of fame are unbalanced, and at a time when so many strive for it she is trying to show a different side of it.
, the camera then very slowly, hypnotically zooms in. Marco is obliged to use his "star" recognition to help promote his new film, when his publicist calls he becomes passive and mechanically takes the arranged chauffeured car and speaks to the press. In part, the humor derives from Marco's subdued response to these attentions, and Coppola's off-beat observation of people around him. At the Venice film festival, critics highlighted the repetition of characters in a cloistered existence in Coppola's films, to which she responded “I feel like everyone should tell what they know in the world that they know”.
Scenes from the film are said to be inspired by the director's childhood experiences as the daughter of Francis Ford Coppola
. She recalls sampling all the gelato
flavours on a Milanese hotel's room service menu, a trip to Italy, a helicopter ride, and though she said there was a "personal connection" to the film, she denied it was an autobiography. Rather, she based the character of Cleo on a friend's daughter whose parents work in Hollywood and used her own experiences to relate to the character and add a realistic touch. Federico Fellini
's Toby Dammit
(1968) has also been noted as an influence. Meanwhile, the parental focus of the film developed because Coppola had recently had her second child. Coppola said that she thought of Dorff to play Marco early while writing the film, because he had an aura of “the bad-boy actor,” but also “this really sweet, sincere side.”
Coppola wanted a minimalist look for the film, especially after the mixed reactions to her richly costumed Marie Antoinette. The overall effect was to be “sweet and genuine but without being sappy.” For the visual style she discussed Bruce Weber
's Hollywood portraits and Helmut Newton
's portraits of models at the Chateau Marmont, and Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
(1980), a film by Chantal Akerman
about the routine of a Belgian housewife, with Harris Savides
, the cinematographer
. He said, "“The main thing was to tell the story really simply and let it play out in long beats and have the audience discover the moment." Coppola used the lenses that her father had used to film Rumble Fish
(1983) in an effort to give the film a more period look, although it is set in the present.
Before filming began Dorff, Fanning and Lala Sloatman
(who plays Marco's ex-wife) improvised meals and fights to understand the family's dynamic. Dorff also collected Fanning from school and they spent an afternoon together to bond. Dorff stayed in the Chateau Marmont during principal photography, making it easier to get to the set and understand the character. Coppola also showed Dorff Paper Moon
(1973) during production.
Filming took place in Los Angeles and Italy in June and July 2009. Benicio del Toro
, Erin Wasson
and members of the band Rooney
have cameos in the film. In a feature for the New York Times website, Coppola discussed making the scene when Marco visits a special effects studio. She said she initially was unsure of how to approach it, but Savides did a long, slow zoom which captures his breathing and creates a sense of claustrophobia. Despite many takes, Dorff was a "good sport", she said. The sound of the phone ringing was added by Sarah Flack, the editor, to indicate that Marco has been forgotten.
on 3 September 2010, and it was released in Italy on the same day. At the festival's close (11 September), the jury unanimously awarded Somewhere the Golden Lion
, the festival's prize for the best overall film. Quentin Tarantino
, president of the jury, said the film "grew and grew in our hearts, in our minds, in our affections" after the first screening. Focus Features
distributed Somewhere in North America and most other territories. Pathé
released the film in France on 5 January 2011, while Tohokushinsha distributed it in Japan. Medusa Film has rights in Italy. Somewhere was released on 10 December 2010 in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, and on 22 December in North America.
, Sofia Coppola was given the Special Filmmaking Achievement Award for writing, directing and producing Somewhere.
Rotten Tomatoes
, a review compilation website, reports that 72% of critics have given the film a positive review with an average score of 6.5/10, based on a survey of 162 reviews. It summarizes critical opinion as: "It covers familiar territory for Sofia Coppola, but Somewhere remains a hypnotic, seductively pensive meditation on the nature of celebrity, anchored by charming performances from Stephen Dorff and Elle Fanning". Metacritic
, by comparison, assigned the film an average score of 67/100, based on 40 reviews from mainstream critics.
Roger Ebert
, writing in the Chicago Sun Times, awarded the film four stars out of four and praised the detail in the portrait of Marco, saying "Coppola is a fascinating director. She sees, and we see exactly what she sees." A.O. Scott in the New York Times called the film "exquisite, melancholy and formally audacious" and said "This is not a matter of imitation, but rather of mastery, of finding — by borrowing if necessary — a visual vocabulary suited to the story and its environment. If you pay close attention, “Somewhere” will show you everything." Peter Bradshaw disagreed in The Guardian
, awarding the film two stars from five. He praised the cinematic technique but said that the film resembled Lost in Translation too closely, lacked emotional depth and that even on second viewing "the question of why we should really care or be interested remains tantalisingly unanswered"; the final shot failed to solve any emotional problems and "really is one of the daftest things I have seen for a long time." On BBC Radio 5 Live
, Mark Kermode
gave a negative review, calling it "unbelievably self-indulgent and boring."
Allociné
, a French cinema website, calculated a score of 2.9 stars out of 5 from twenty-six press reviews. French newspaper Le Monde
gave the film a positive review, saying Somewhere was Coppola's most minimalist and daring film. Coppola's films, it said, deal with "the delicate irony of the delinquency of a universe of the happy few", which is both to her credit and a ghost which haunts her, a loyalty ensnaring her. France 24
said the "virtuosity of Coppola is also in her keeping empathy for the characters without pouring out mushy sentiment." Richard Roeper
said that Somewhere is one of the best films of 2010, ranking it number 10.
(2006) and The Virgin Suicides
(1999). However, it was a lesser total taking and was judged a poor commercial performance. In France, Somewhere earned 401 511 EUR in the three weeks to 25 January 2011.
, a French rock band, contributed the film's score. Coppola is married to Thomas Mars, the band's singer; she liked the songs "Love Like a Sunset Part I" and "Love Like a Sunset Part II" and requested the band do similar music for the film.
In 2010 the film score
for Somewhere was produced by Phoenix. Except for the Strokes's song during the poolside scene, the score is diegetic. For example, Cleo ice-skates to Gwen Stefani
, and the twins pole-dance to the Foo Fighters
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
that was written and directed by Sofia Coppola
Sofia Coppola
Sofia Carmina Coppola is an American screenwriter, film director, actress, and producer.In 2003 she received the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Lost in Translation, and became the third woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for Directing...
. The film follows Johnny Marco, a newly famous actor, as he recuperates from a minor injury at the Chateau Marmont, a well-known Hollywood retreat. Despite money, fame and professional success, Marco is trapped in an existential crisis
Existential crisis
An existential crisis is a stage of development at which an individual questions the very foundations of his or her life: whether his or her life has any meaning, purpose or value...
and feels little emotion during his daily life. When his ex-wife suffers an unexplained breakdown and goes away, she leaves Cleo, their 11-year-old daughter, with him. They spend time together; her presence helps Marco mature and accept adult responsibility. The film explores ennui among Hollywood stars, the father-daughter relationship and offers an oblique comedy of show business, particularly Hollywood film-making and the life of a "star
Celebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
".
Somewhere was first shown at the 67th Venice International Film Festival
67th Venice International Film Festival
The 67th annual Venice Film Festival held in Venice, Italy, took place from September 1 to September 11, 2010. American film director and screenwriter Quentin Tarantino was head of the Jury. John Woo was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement prior to the start of the Festival...
where it received the Golden Lion
Golden Lion
Il Leone d’Oro is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most distinguished prizes...
award for best picture. Critical opinion was mixed to positive. Reviewers praised the patience of the visual style and the film's empathy for a handful of characters, but some found it to be too repetitive of previous themes in Coppola's work, or did not sympathise with the protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
because of his relative success. It was released to select theatres in the United Kingdom and Ireland on 10 December 2010, and in the United States on 22 December 2010.
Synopsis
As the film opens a black Ferrari circles on a race track in the desert, its engine roaring in and out of the shot. When it eventually stops, Johnny Marco (Stephen DorffStephen Dorff
Stephen Dorff is an American actor, best known for portraying Stuart Sutcliffe in Backbeat, Johnny Marco in Somewhere, and for his roles in Blade and Cecil B. DeMented.-Early life:...
) steps out. A Hollywood actor, who, despite his recent rise to fame, does not feel much meaning in his life. He resides at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
from where he completes various publicity obligations for his new film: he is photographed with his co-star (Michelle Monaghan
Michelle Monaghan
Michelle Lynn Monaghan is an American actress known for her roles in Mission: Impossible III, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Gone Baby Gone, Made of Honor, The Heartbreak Kid, Eagle Eye, and Source Code.-Early life:...
), gives interviews to the press, and attends an award ceremony in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. Despite drinking and socializing occasionally with Sammy (Chris Pontius
Chris Pontius
Christopher Andrew "Chris" Pontius is an American entertainer and daredevil. Pontius is a member of Jackass, and along with Steve-O, was the co-host of Wildboyz.-Life and career:...
), an old friend, Marco spends much time alone, driving his Ferrari
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929, as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street-legal vehicles as Ferrari S.p.A. in 1947...
motorcar, drinking beer, taking pills, and having casual sex with various women. Twice he has two pole-dancing twins (Kristina and Karissa Shannon) set up their equipment and perform in his room, the first time he falls asleep and the second routine is more calisthenic than erotic.
He receives an unexpected visit from his 11-year-old daughter, Cleo (Elle Fanning
Elle Fanning
Mary Elle Fanning , credited as Elle Fanning, is an American actress. She is the younger sister of actress Dakota Fanning and mainly known for her starring roles in Phoebe in Wonderland, Somewhere, Super 8 and We Bought a Zoo which will receive a theatrical release on December 23,...
). Her stay changes his lifestyle little at first, including his indulging an overnight visitor, a blonde woman. Marco and his daughter spend time together in his hotel suite and he brings her with him on his daily routine and on a publicity trip to Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, and through preparations for her departure to summer camp. As their time together grows, Marco's fatherly emotions emerge and force him to re-assess his otherwise 'successful' life. At the end, Marco checks out of the hotel promising not to return, and drives his Ferrari into the countryside. He gets out, leaving the keys in the ignition, and walks down the highway smiling.
Celebrity ennui
Coppola's first three films examine feminine self-definition and maturation, usually in privileged circumstance. Lost in TranslationLost in Translation (film)
Lost in Translation is a 2003 American film written and directed by Sofia Coppola; her second feature film after The Virgin Suicides and it stars Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson...
(2003) depicts an encounter and brief friendship between two lonely Americans in a luxurious Tokyo hotel; Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette (2006 film)
Marie Antoinette is a 2006 biographical film, written and directed by Sofia Coppola. It is very loosely based on the life of the Queen consort in the years leading up to the French Revolution. It won an Academy Award for Best Costume Design...
(2006), a stylised biopic of the eponymous queen, examined her loneliness. Somewhere examines similar themes of success and isolation, but from a male perspective. The film explores Marco's seclusion and depression despite his outward professional success and the resulting wealth and fame. He appears to suffer from anhedonia
Anhedonia
In psychology and psychiatry, anhedonia is defined as the inability to experience pleasure from activities usually found enjoyable, e.g. hobbies, exercise, social interaction or sexual activity....
, the inability to feel pleasure, but the film itself is reticent in suggesting its causes. "He believes he's nothing", summarized Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
, "and it appears he's correct". The film's opening shot, a Ferrari circling a race-track in and out of a stationary camera position, its whine and roar rising and falling, establishes the theme of ennui. The sequence's length also offers a visual cue from Coppola to relax, observe and withhold expectations. Coppola said she wanted to hint at this with a simple camera set-up, "so you're alone with this guy and not aware that it's a movie. But I hope it's a welcome contrast to the style of most movies out there. Something that gives you a chance to take a breath".
The Chateau Marmont, a well-known retreat for Hollywood celebrities, is the film's setting and can be "either a paradise of easy wish-fulfillment or a purgatory of celebrity anomie" (A.O. Scott), but Coppola subtly conveys the emptiness of Marco's situation without denying its appeal. Coppola has stayed at the hotel, and said "I've seen a few Johnny Marcos"; in contrast, writing the part of the daughter, she drew on childhood experiences with her director father, Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors...
, such as attending film festivals, though she denied the film was autobiographical. Coppola said that cultural depictions of fame are unbalanced, and at a time when so many strive for it she is trying to show a different side of it.
Parenthood
Coppola mentioned that the parental angle was inspired by the birth of her second child. As the film progresses the "tender and temporary" father-daughter relationship comes to the fore. Marco has partial custody of his daughter from a failed marriage. Ebert speculates that she probably understands the reasons for the split better than he, and wonders why the child must suffer his hedonism and "detached attempts at fatherhood". In some ways Cleo - having grown up inside the Hollywood bubble - mothers her father, cooking for him and being more worldly aware, but she also watches him with the wide-eyed adoration of a child.Comedy of show-business
Coppola comes from a family of film-makers and actors, and she has said how childhood memories of living in hotels partially inspired her choice of setting. Somewhere presents a detailed portrait of life in that industry and charts its existential and emotional boundaries. While celebrity gossip websites inform us of the shallowness of much of "star life", Coppola's feature differs in its emotional depth. She wanted to depict Marco working, but not on a film set. Instead he is shown giving interviews, being photographed, attending an awards ceremony in Italy, and having special effects make-up applied. When Marco attends the special-effects department his face is covered in latexLatex
Latex is the stable dispersion of polymer microparticles in an aqueous medium. Latexes may be natural or synthetic.Latex as found in nature is a milky fluid found in 10% of all flowering plants . It is a complex emulsion consisting of proteins, alkaloids, starches, sugars, oils, tannins, resins,...
, the camera then very slowly, hypnotically zooms in. Marco is obliged to use his "star" recognition to help promote his new film, when his publicist calls he becomes passive and mechanically takes the arranged chauffeured car and speaks to the press. In part, the humor derives from Marco's subdued response to these attentions, and Coppola's off-beat observation of people around him. At the Venice film festival, critics highlighted the repetition of characters in a cloistered existence in Coppola's films, to which she responded “I feel like everyone should tell what they know in the world that they know”.
Production
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors...
. She recalls sampling all the gelato
Gelato
Gelato is the italian word for ice cream and sorbet. Italians use the word gelato to mean a sweet treat that is served frozen. Indeed, gelato, just like ice cream, is made with Milk, cream, various sugars, flavoring including fresh fruit and nut purees....
flavours on a Milanese hotel's room service menu, a trip to Italy, a helicopter ride, and though she said there was a "personal connection" to the film, she denied it was an autobiography. Rather, she based the character of Cleo on a friend's daughter whose parents work in Hollywood and used her own experiences to relate to the character and add a realistic touch. Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI , was an Italian film director and scriptwriter. Known for a distinct style that blends fantasy and baroque images, he is considered one of the most influential and widely revered filmmakers of the 20th century...
's Toby Dammit
Histoires extraordinaires
Histoires extraordinaires is a 1968 "omnibus" film comprising three segments...
(1968) has also been noted as an influence. Meanwhile, the parental focus of the film developed because Coppola had recently had her second child. Coppola said that she thought of Dorff to play Marco early while writing the film, because he had an aura of “the bad-boy actor,” but also “this really sweet, sincere side.”
Coppola wanted a minimalist look for the film, especially after the mixed reactions to her richly costumed Marie Antoinette. The overall effect was to be “sweet and genuine but without being sappy.” For the visual style she discussed Bruce Weber
Bruce Weber (photographer)
Bruce Weber is an American fashion photographer and occasional filmmaker. He is most widely known for his ad campaigns for Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Pirelli, Abercrombie & Fitch, Revlon, and Gianni Versace, as well as his work for Vogue, GQ, Vanity Fair, Elle, Life, Interview, and Rolling Stone...
's Hollywood portraits and Helmut Newton
Helmut Newton
Helmut Newton, born Helmut Neustädter was a German-Australian photographer. He was a "prolific, widely imitated fashion photographer whose provocative, erotically charged black-and-white photos were a mainstay of Vogue and other publications."-Early life:Newton was born in Berlin, the son of Klara...
's portraits of models at the Chateau Marmont, and Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles is a 1975 film by Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman.Upon its release, The New York Times called Jeanne Dielman the "first masterpiece of the feminine in the history of the cinema." Chantal Akerman scholar Ivone Margulies asserts the picture is a...
(1980), a film by Chantal Akerman
Chantal Akerman
Chantal Anne Akerman is a Belgian film director, artist, and professor of film at the European Graduate School. Akerman's best-known film, Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles , exemplifies a dedication to the ellipses of conventional narrative cinema.-Early life:Akerman was born to...
about the routine of a Belgian housewife, with Harris Savides
Harris Savides
Harris Savides is a contemporary American cinematographer. Notable films include Gus Van Sant's "young death" trilogy , The Game, Zodiac and American Gangster....
, the cinematographer
Cinematography
Cinematography is the making of lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for cinema. It is closely related to the art of still photography...
. He said, "“The main thing was to tell the story really simply and let it play out in long beats and have the audience discover the moment." Coppola used the lenses that her father had used to film Rumble Fish
Rumble Fish
Rumble Fish is a 1983 film directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It is based on the novel Rumble Fish by S.E. Hinton, who also co-wrote the screenplay....
(1983) in an effort to give the film a more period look, although it is set in the present.
Before filming began Dorff, Fanning and Lala Sloatman
Lala Sloatman
Lala Cassandra Sloatman is an American model, actress and costumer. Her uncle was musician Frank Zappa; her cousins are Ahmet, Diva, Moon and Dweezil Zappa. She is frequently billed by her first name only, and sometimes as Lala Zappa....
(who plays Marco's ex-wife) improvised meals and fights to understand the family's dynamic. Dorff also collected Fanning from school and they spent an afternoon together to bond. Dorff stayed in the Chateau Marmont during principal photography, making it easier to get to the set and understand the character. Coppola also showed Dorff Paper Moon
Paper Moon (film)
Paper Moon is a 1973 American comedy film directed by Peter Bogdanovich and released by Paramount Pictures. The screenplay was adapted from the novel Addie Pray by Joe David Brown, and the film was shot in black-and-white. The film is set during the Great Depression in the U.S. states of Kansas and...
(1973) during production.
Filming took place in Los Angeles and Italy in June and July 2009. Benicio del Toro
Benicio del Toro
Benicio Monserrate Rafael del Toro Sánchez is a Puerto Rican and Spanish actor and film producer. He won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a BAFTA Award for his role as Javier Rodríguez in Traffic . He is also known for his roles as Fred Fenster in The Usual...
, Erin Wasson
Erin Wasson
Erin Wasson is an American model and occasional stylist and designer. She is of Irish ancestry.-Career:...
and members of the band Rooney
Rooney (band)
Rooney is an American rock band from Los Angeles, currently self-produced and formerly signed to Geffen Records. The band is now composed of Robert Schwartzman , Louie Stephens , Taylor Locke , Ned Brower , and Brandon Schwartzel...
have cameos in the film. In a feature for the New York Times website, Coppola discussed making the scene when Marco visits a special effects studio. She said she initially was unsure of how to approach it, but Savides did a long, slow zoom which captures his breathing and creates a sense of claustrophobia. Despite many takes, Dorff was a "good sport", she said. The sound of the phone ringing was added by Sarah Flack, the editor, to indicate that Marco has been forgotten.
Release
Somewhere was first shown at the 67th Venice International Film Festival67th Venice International Film Festival
The 67th annual Venice Film Festival held in Venice, Italy, took place from September 1 to September 11, 2010. American film director and screenwriter Quentin Tarantino was head of the Jury. John Woo was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement prior to the start of the Festival...
on 3 September 2010, and it was released in Italy on the same day. At the festival's close (11 September), the jury unanimously awarded Somewhere the Golden Lion
Golden Lion
Il Leone d’Oro is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most distinguished prizes...
, the festival's prize for the best overall film. Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
, president of the jury, said the film "grew and grew in our hearts, in our minds, in our affections" after the first screening. Focus Features
Focus Features
Focus Features is the art house films division of NBC Universal's Universal Pictures, and acts as both a producer and distributor for its own films and a distributor for foreign films....
distributed Somewhere in North America and most other territories. Pathé
Pathé
Pathé or Pathé Frères is the name of various French businesses founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France.-History:...
released the film in France on 5 January 2011, while Tohokushinsha distributed it in Japan. Medusa Film has rights in Italy. Somewhere was released on 10 December 2010 in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, and on 22 December in North America.
Critical reception
The film received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Sight and Sound magazine, published by the British Film Institute, described Somewhere as "going round in circles" and noted that many viewers would "write off Coppola's film as the whining of the privileged", but also acknowledged "a delicate portrait of a still-maturing pre-teen daughter". During the 2010 National Board of Review AwardsNational Board of Review of Motion Pictures
The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures was founded in 1909 in New York City, just 13 years after the birth of cinema, to protest New York City Mayor George B. McClellan, Jr.'s revocation of moving-picture exhibition licenses on Christmas Eve 1908. The mayor believed that the new medium...
, Sofia Coppola was given the Special Filmmaking Achievement Award for writing, directing and producing Somewhere.
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, a review compilation website, reports that 72% of critics have given the film a positive review with an average score of 6.5/10, based on a survey of 162 reviews. It summarizes critical opinion as: "It covers familiar territory for Sofia Coppola, but Somewhere remains a hypnotic, seductively pensive meditation on the nature of celebrity, anchored by charming performances from Stephen Dorff and Elle Fanning". Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, by comparison, assigned the film an average score of 67/100, based on 40 reviews from mainstream critics.
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
, writing in the Chicago Sun Times, awarded the film four stars out of four and praised the detail in the portrait of Marco, saying "Coppola is a fascinating director. She sees, and we see exactly what she sees." A.O. Scott in the New York Times called the film "exquisite, melancholy and formally audacious" and said "This is not a matter of imitation, but rather of mastery, of finding — by borrowing if necessary — a visual vocabulary suited to the story and its environment. If you pay close attention, “Somewhere” will show you everything." Peter Bradshaw disagreed in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, awarding the film two stars from five. He praised the cinematic technique but said that the film resembled Lost in Translation too closely, lacked emotional depth and that even on second viewing "the question of why we should really care or be interested remains tantalisingly unanswered"; the final shot failed to solve any emotional problems and "really is one of the daftest things I have seen for a long time." On BBC Radio 5 Live
BBC Radio 5 Live
BBC Radio 5 Live is the BBC's national radio service that specialises in live BBC News, phone-ins, and sports commentaries...
, Mark Kermode
Mark Kermode
Mark Kermode is an English film critic, musician and a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. He contributes to Sight and Sound magazine, The Observer newspaper and BBC Radio 5 Live, where he presents Kermode and Mayo's Film Reviews with Simon Mayo on Friday afternoons...
gave a negative review, calling it "unbelievably self-indulgent and boring."
Allociné
AlloCiné
AlloCiné is a service organization providing information on the programs of french cinema, especially centering on novelties' promotion with DVD information. The enterprise is founded as telephonic communicator, then diversified as internet portal site, which offers sufficient information by fast...
, a French cinema website, calculated a score of 2.9 stars out of 5 from twenty-six press reviews. French newspaper Le Monde
Le Monde
Le Monde is a French daily evening newspaper owned by La Vie-Le Monde Group and edited in Paris. It is one of two French newspapers of record, and has generally been well respected since its first edition under founder Hubert Beuve-Méry on 19 December 1944...
gave the film a positive review, saying Somewhere was Coppola's most minimalist and daring film. Coppola's films, it said, deal with "the delicate irony of the delinquency of a universe of the happy few", which is both to her credit and a ghost which haunts her, a loyalty ensnaring her. France 24
France 24
France 24 is an international news and current affairs television channel. The service is aimed at the overseas market, similar to BBC World News, DW-TV, NHK World and RT, and broadcast through satellite and cable operators throughout the world. During 2010 the channel started broadcasting through...
said the "virtuosity of Coppola is also in her keeping empathy for the characters without pouring out mushy sentiment." Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Richard E. Roeper is an American columnist and film critic for The Chicago Sun-Times and now a co-host on The Roe Conn Show on WLS-AM...
said that Somewhere is one of the best films of 2010, ranking it number 10.
Box office
In its debut weekend in the United States, the film opened in seven theatres with $119,086, averaging $17,012 per cinema. As of February 2011, it has grossed $1,785,645 in the United States and USD$13,936,909 worldwide. In the United Kingdom, Somewhere went on limited release to 62 cinemas. It earned £126,000 in the first weekend, of 10 December 2010. Its average per screen, £2,026, was higher than Coppola's earlier small film openings, Marie AntoinetteMarie Antoinette (2006 film)
Marie Antoinette is a 2006 biographical film, written and directed by Sofia Coppola. It is very loosely based on the life of the Queen consort in the years leading up to the French Revolution. It won an Academy Award for Best Costume Design...
(2006) and The Virgin Suicides
The Virgin Suicides (film)
The Virgin Suicides is a 1999 American drama film written and directed by Sofia Coppola, produced by her father Francis Ford Coppola, starring James Woods, Kathleen Turner, Kirsten Dunst, Josh Hartnett, and A.J...
(1999). However, it was a lesser total taking and was judged a poor commercial performance. In France, Somewhere earned 401 511 EUR in the three weeks to 25 January 2011.
Soundtrack
PhoenixPhoenix (band)
Phoenix is a Grammy Award winning French indie rock band from Versailles, founded by Thomas Mars, Deck d'Arcy, Christian Mazzalai and Laurent Brancowitz.-Formation and early years:...
, a French rock band, contributed the film's score. Coppola is married to Thomas Mars, the band's singer; she liked the songs "Love Like a Sunset Part I" and "Love Like a Sunset Part II" and requested the band do similar music for the film.
In 2010 the film score
Film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
for Somewhere was produced by Phoenix. Except for the Strokes's song during the poolside scene, the score is diegetic. For example, Cleo ice-skates to Gwen Stefani
Gwen Stefani
Gwen Renée Stefani is an American singer-songwriter and fashion designer. Stefani is the lead vocalist for the rock and ska band No Doubt. Stefani recorded her first solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. in 2004. The album was inspired by music of the 1980s, and was a success with sales of over...
, and the twins pole-dance to the Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters is an American alternative rock band originally formed in 1994 by Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl as a one-man project following the dissolution of his previous band. The band got its name from the UFOs and various aerial phenomena that were reported by Allied aircraft pilots in World War...
.
Track listing
- "Love Like a Sunset Part I" – PhoenixPhoenix (band)Phoenix is a Grammy Award winning French indie rock band from Versailles, founded by Thomas Mars, Deck d'Arcy, Christian Mazzalai and Laurent Brancowitz.-Formation and early years:...
- "Ghandi Fix" – William Storkson
- "My HeroMy Hero (song)"My Hero" is the third single from the Foo Fighters' second album The Colour and the Shape. It was released as a single in 1998, though has been played live as early as 1995. According to Dave Grohl, the song is dedicated to ordinary, everyday heroes, as he himself never had musical or sports...
" – Foo FightersFoo FightersFoo Fighters is an American alternative rock band originally formed in 1994 by Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl as a one-man project following the dissolution of his previous band. The band got its name from the UFOs and various aerial phenomena that were reported by Allied aircraft pilots in World War... - "So LonelySo Lonely"So Lonely" is a song written and produced by American singer Mariah Carey and producer Rodney Jerkins. It is a duet between rapper Twista and Carey, featured on his album The Day After and Carey's The Emancipation of Mimi . Officially released in 2006 as the third single from The Day After...
" – The PoliceThe PoliceThe Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For the vast majority of their history, the band consisted of Sting , Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland... - "1 Thing1 Thing"1 Thing" is a song written by American R&B singer-songwriter Amerie and Rich Harrison for Amerie's second studio album, Touch . The song is influenced by go-go rhythms and features a prominent sample of The Meters' 1970 funk recording of "Oh, Calcutta!", written by Stanley Walden...
" – AmerieAmerieAmerie Mi Marie Rogers , known professionally as Amerie or Ameriie, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. She debuted in 2002 with the album All I Have, primarily co-written and produced by Rich Harrison, and was well-received in the urban market... - "20th Century Boy20th Century Boy"20th Century Boy" is a song by T. Rex, written by Marc Bolan. It was released as a single in 1973 and reached #3 in the UK Singles Chart. The song did not feature on an original studio album but was included as a bonus track on a reissue of 1973 album Tanx.It later returned to the UK Top 20 in...
" – T.RexT. Rex (band)T. Rex were a British rock band, formed in 1967 by singer/songwriter and guitarist Marc Bolan. The band formed as Tyrannosaurus Rex, releasing four folk albums under the name... - "Cool" – Gwen StefaniGwen StefaniGwen Renée Stefani is an American singer-songwriter and fashion designer. Stefani is the lead vocalist for the rock and ska band No Doubt. Stefani recorded her first solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. in 2004. The album was inspired by music of the 1980s, and was a success with sales of over...
- "Che si fa" – Paolo Jannacci
- "Teddy Bear" – Romulo
- "Love Theme From Kiss" – KissKISS (band)Kiss is an American rock band formed in New York City in January 1973. Well-known for its members' face paint and flamboyant stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid to late 1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances, which featured fire breathing, blood spitting,...
- "I'll Try Anything Once" – Julian CasablancasJulian CasablancasJulian Fernando Casablancas is an American singer-songwriter and musician of The Strokes. Casablancas pursued a solo career during The Strokes' hiatus, releasing the album Phrazes for the Young on November 3, 2009....
- "Look" – Sebastien TellierSébastien TellierSébastien Tellier is a French singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is currently signed to Record Makers, a French independent record label. He sings in English, French and Italian.-Biography:...
- "Smoke Gets In Your EyesSmoke Gets in Your Eyes"Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" is a show tune written by American composer Jerome Kern and lyricist Otto Harbach for their 1933 operetta Roberta. It was originally recorded by Gertrude Niesen, on 13 October 1933 on the Victor label 24454. It was performed by Irene Dunne for the 1935 film adaptation,...
" – Bryan FerryBryan FerryBryan Ferry, CBE is an English singer, musician, and songwriter. Ferry came to public prominence in the early 1970s as lead vocalist and principal songwriter with the band Roxy Music, who enjoyed a highly successful career with three number one albums and ten singles entering the top ten charts in... - "Massage Music" – William Storkson
- "Love Like a Sunset Part II" – Phoenix