SOMEWHERE (2010)

Revisiting it 11 years later, SOMEWHERE holds more weight now than before. Sofia Coppola’s film is a take on the ennui of celebrity, the repetitive-to-the-point-of-boredom nature of fame, and how that can grind someone down—in this case, the fictional actor Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff). It stuck with me for years; Coppola has a gift for making the upper class relatable because no matter how high you climb, we all have to deal with the same dread of existence. Watching it now in a world that has spent the better part of a year in isolated lockdown (mostly), there’s a new level of relatability on the surface.

Actor Johnny Marco distracts himself as much as possible while staying at the famed Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles—a locale of Hollywood real-life legend, myths and scandals. There’s only so much that booze and women can do for Johnny—he hires strippers to pole-dance for him and he falls asleep in the middle of their performance, then at a party he takes a woman to bed and, again, falls asleep mid-performance. He’s never engaged long enough for any fulfilment because any excitement he’s had before has eroded from repetition. 

Coppola begins SOMEWHERE with a long, uninterrupted take of Johnny racing his sports car around a track. The camera is stationary yet off-center, showing the car pop into frame then exit and come back again, again and again. It continues longer than it typically should; here, the filmmaker eases you into a feeling of being stuck in time, all in a single frame, setting the tone for the rest of the movie. Unlike other Hollywood films about Hollywood,  SOMEWHERE leaves out the “action” moments—instead of seeing Johnny on set, we sit with him as he has a mold of his head made, and I mean we literally sit and watch as the cast around his head dries in another long, mesmerizing scene.

Presented as a series of tableaus, SOMEWHERE wants you to sit and watch Johnny as he sits and watches, trying to experience life. Coppola is skilled in her presentation of these images and situations Johnny finds himself in—she extracts any excitement an audience may have during these scenes. It’s only when Johnny is with his daughter Cleo (Elle Fanning) that we see a genuine spark from the disillusioned actor. DP Harris Savides’ camera is a lot more expressive, moving and gliding, as Johnny watches her ice skate to Gwen Stefani, and Johnny lights up at the end of the song, smiling with genuine affection. 

Johnny seemingly only has one friend, Sammy (Chris Pontius), who he’s known since childhood, and everyone else is either paid to be friendly towards him, like his PR agent, or are a fan of his celebrity persona, like the women who want to sleep with him. Meaningful connections are hard to come by. Michelle Monaghan plays Johnny’s co-star in a new film, and she only has bitter words for Johnny as they pose for press photos—few lines give hints of their raucous past fling. Johnny also has a blocked number sending him texts like “Why are you such an asshole?” He even has a rocky relationship with his ex-wife, who’s dealing with her own issues as she decides to go away for a few days, leaving Cleo with Johnny. While annoyed with him at times—Johnny sleeps with yet another actress and has her stay the night, which is followed by side glances from Cleo in the morning at the breakfast table—Cleo does love her father.

And Johnny loves his daughter; he doesn’t hesitate in taking her on his promotional tour in Milan. He’s thrilled to share with her something that feels worn out to him, a stay in an upper class Italian hotel with his very own personal pool and room service that brings them every flavor of ice cream on a whim. At an awards show where Johnny receives a trophy—not exactly sure what for, but it doesn’t really matter does it?—he’s lost on stage because of the language barrier, and his only anchor is Cleo sitting in the front row, each of them smiling at each other, going through the motions together. Another moment of repetition has more of a vibrancy at this point—Cleo swims laps in their hotel room pool, going back and forth, again and again, but Johnny looks more excited by this than anything else on their Milan trip, rooting her on.

After their return back to Chateau Marmont they spend more precious time together before she goes to camp for the summer.

It’s a change from the monotony we’ve felt with Johnny before, and it has more of an emotional impact—this is the only sequence in the movie that features music that is non-diegetic, The Strokes’ “I’ll Try Anything Once”, underscoring Johnny and Cleo’s day out by the Chateau Marmont pool. As they sit in their chairs in the sun the camera slowly pulls back, we think they’re the only ones there, we’ve learned that isolation is a part of Johnny’s world, but soon other people fill the frame—it’s that societal connection Johnny’s been missing throughout the film.

Things fall apart as soon as Cleo and Johnny say their goodbyes—there’s even a nod to LOST IN TRANSLATION as Johnny's last heartfelt, honest words to Cleo are muffled by the sound of a helicopter. Much like the end of TRANSLATION, there’s a sense of disconnect, but instead of the audience not hearing the final words Bill Murray whispers to Scarlett Johnanson, it’s the characters here who don’t have that last bit of catharsis. Later, after a breakdown on a phone call and once again living alone—which this time feels more painful after what we’ve seen with his time with Cleo—Johnny decides to leave the Chateau Marmont.

Like the beginning of the film, SOMEWHERE ends with a very long scene where Johnny drives. But it’s more purposeful, as Johnny keeps driving until he’s out of L.A. He stops on a countryside road, keys in the car, he gets out and walks. Just walks. It’s that search for meaning, for the break in the cycle that’s so intriguing about Coppola’s film. If I’ve learned anything about living in my own isolation in the past year it’s that it’s hard to find that meaning, that happiness. In retrospect SOMEWHERE captures it perfectly, and I can’t recommend it enough for anyone struggling to find it themselves. Celebrities, they’re just like us, existential dread and all.  

SOMEWHERE is currently available on Blu-ray, streaming on Amazon Prime, and available to rent/buy on most digital platforms.