Priscilla (2023) Review!!

Synopsis – When teenage Priscilla Beaulieu meets Elvis Presley, the man who is already a meteoric rock-and-roll superstar becomes someone entirely unexpected in private moments: a thrilling crush, an ally in loneliness, a vulnerable best friend.

My Take – While there are countless documentaries, specials and feature films about Elvis Presley, just last year saw the release of filmmaker Baz Luhrman‘s Oscar nominated Elvis (2022) with Austin Butler walking away with much of the accolades for his titular performance, this latest feature from writer-director Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation, The Bling Ring) shifts the focus to Priscilla.

And where that film was all glitzy and loud, centering on the King of Rock and Roll and Colonel Tom Parker, this one offers a quieter, gloomy and intimate glimpse at the heartbreaking story of Priscilla‘s marriage to The Memphis Flash.

Based on the 1985 memoir Elvis and Me by Priscilla Presley (who serves as an executive producer), the film artfully captures the loss of innocence and darker aspects of the famous relationship that undoubtedly reveals a frustrating, often smothering courtship and marriage.

Sure, the film never goes deep into details of the couple’s lives, Colonel Parker is only vaguely alluded to, and the viewer sees Elvis performing only near the very end, and that too briefly, yet the film has a certain effectiveness.

Particularly, how director Coppola frames the story like a dark fairy-tale and keeps everything meticulously spare, using none typical soundtrack choices, story beats or stylistic fanfare employed in these kind of stories. It’s a very insular film that relies heavily on mood and atmosphere. It will be up to each individual viewer if that is sufficient.

Beginning in 1959, the story follows Priscilla Beaulieu (Cailee Spaeny), a 14-year-old who while stationed in West Germany with her family, finds herself invited to a private party hosted by a 24-year-old renowned singer Elvis Presley (Jacob Elordi), who had drafted into the military at the peak of his fame. Despite their age difference, the two soon become inseparable.

That is until, Elvis is honorably discharged from the Army in 1960 and returns to the U.S., while Priscilla is stuck in West Germany for another year and a half. They talk and write occasionally, with Priscilla learning of Elvis’s rumored flings with Nancy Sinatra and the like through the gossip rags.

But in the summer of 1962, Priscilla, now 16, is finally allowed by her parents (Ari Cohen, Dagmara Domińczyk) to visit him at Graceland, though he whisks her off to Vegas instead. And almost a year later, Priscilla moves into Graceland and it doesn’t take long for things to change.

Over the years, director Sofia Coppola has well proven herself able to handle the themes, tone and atmosphere pretty well through an honest depiction. Many of the production, costumes and make-up help perfectly capture its time era. Cinematographer Philipe Le Sourd and Editor Sarah Flack manage to sustain the pacing despite an inordinate amount of time Priscilla spends on her own at Graceland.

The writing, while predictable due to the narrative being the standard biographical story, remains interesting as it does a pretty good job on exploring the themes of isolation, innocence being robbed, heartbreak, and solitude.

At the core of the story is Priscilla’s solitude and loneliness. As she is confined to Graceland as Elvis marches off to shoot the stream of films set up by a never-seen-here Col Tom Parker. Doses of Elvis and the Memphis Mafia occur between extended stretches alone with Elvis’ grandmother and personal cook. She is isolated from the real world and clearly controlled by Elvis, who was only partially present.

The creep factor is ever-present as 24-year-old Elvis, overseas on military duty, shows an elevated interest in 14-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu, whose military father is also stationed in Germany. The naivety of their first meetings is captured as Elvis’ beloved mother has recently passed away. Both are lonely and away from home, and Elvis simply finds her easy to talk to. When Priscilla turns 17, she moves into Graceland, yet Elvis insists the intimacy wait until after they are married.

Most surprisingly, director Coppola doesn’t shy away from showing the darker side of Elvis, as we see him demeaning Priscilla, hurling a chair at her head, and nearly sexually assaulting her in Vegas.

And thankfully, she does not include impassioned monologues about female independence or misogyny-in fact, it’s arguable that Priscilla makes her first active choice in the final moments of the film, but it manages to grab you with its subtle allure and wrap you up in something that feels somehow good and gross at the same time.

Yes, this film does lose a bit of its momentum near the end as it becomes less cohesive and jumps years forward between scenes, but it didn’t really detract from my enjoyment of the film. The fact that the story ends at what feels like the halfway point only drives home the feeling that, for Priscilla Presley, that’s what it was.

Performances wise, Cailee Spaeny brings a marvelous turn. Spaeny perfectly captures the wide-eyed innocence of a young fan, the frustrations of a young woman being controlled and isolated, and finally, a grown woman standing up for her own freedom. While

Jacob Elordi turns in a subdued, more complex version of Elvis. Elordi in particular, faces not only comparisons to Austin Butler‘s ebullient Oscar nominated performance, but decades of imitators. He humanizes the mythic figure even if, at a certain point, his lack of flash makes him seem dangerous and at times, terrifying.

In other roles, Ari Cohen, Dagmara Domińczyk, Luke Humphrey, Tim Post, Olivia Barrett, Dan Beirne, R AustinBall, Dan Abramovici, Dan Beirne, Evan Annisette and Rodrigo Fernandez Stoll are decent. On the whole, ‘Priscilla’ is a dark, moody and heartbreaking depiction of a famous relationship.