Since the 1990s, seriality has become the dominant narrative mode, if not a signifier of Hollywood cinema. It is, however, also present in American independent cinema. The latter, while discursively constructing itself in opposition to Hollywood, recurrently adopts seriality, particularly through the trilogical form that unfolds according to thematic, stylistic, temporal, or receptive modalities, thereby favoring an auteurist interpretation. This article focuses on a fifth type of trilogy, namely the so-called “accidental” trilogy. I take Sofia Coppola’s Young Girls Trilogy as a case study to understand its role in establishing and solidifying an auteurist identity within independent cinema. By questioning the “accidental” nature of this trilogy, I suggest that the Young Girls Trilogy is not simply a “fortuitous” succession of films, but rather constitutes a subsequent discursive and paratextual framework, enabling the formation of a distinct auteur brand. This article thus highlights the commodification and marketing logics at work in the construction the author figure in contemporary independent cinema and distribution.
Noémie Sorel (Wed,) studied this question.