Priscilla review

PRISCILLA: 

SOFIA COPPOLA EFFECTIVELY SHEDS LIGHT ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ELVIS PRESLEY STORY! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** ½ out of 4

A24

Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi in Priscilla

 

            First there was Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, now writer-director Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation, Marie Antoinette, The Bling Ring) brings the other side of Elvis Presley’s story to the screen in Priscilla. The film is based on the 1985 memoir, Elvis and Me written by Priscilla Presley, Elvis’ ex-wife who also serves as an executive producer. 

            I’ll admit I’m no expert on the details surrounding Elvis and Priscilla’s relationship, but I have a basic idea of how it went via other Elvis biopics and news articles. So, I won’t be able to determine how historically accurate this film is to what really happened though I’m sure there’s plenty of articles and videos online discussing it. 

            I went into this mostly as an admirer of Coppola’s work and I have to say, this might be her best film since Lost in Translation. This is a powerful, excellently cast, and timely look at the toxic balance between first love and fame that often feels like the polar oppositive of Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis movie from last year. 

            The film follows teenager, Priscilla Beaulieu (Cailee Spaeny-Pacific Rim: Uprising, On the Basis of Sex, The Craft: Legacy) who meets rock and roll superstar, Elvis Presley (Jacob Elordi-The Kissing Booth trilogy, Euphoria, Saltburn) at a party and the two of them immediately form a connection. Chronicling their life together that started off as a simple teenage crush to eventually becoming a married couple and parents, and the complications that often come with celebrity relationships. 

            The film also stars Dagmara Domińczyk (Rock Star, Kinsey, Bottoms) as Priscilla’s mother Ann Beaulieu, Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll (Room, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, I Like Movies) as Alan “Hog Ears”, Luke Humphrey (Cruel but Necessary, Trench 11, Chateau Laurier) as Terry West, Lynne Griffin (Black Christmas, Strange Brew, 88) as Grandma “Dodger”, and Dan Beirne (Suck It Up, The Twentieth Century, I Like Movies) as Joe Esposito. 

            Overall, Priscilla is a bold and daring look at the darker half of Elvis’ life told from the perspective of his ex-wife as well as just being an expertly crafted coming-of-age story about teenage crushes, first loves, and marital issues. Even if you’re not familiar with Elvis and Priscilla’s relationship, I think this is a very important story to tell that’s sure to resonate with audiences. 

            From what I got out of it, it seems the film is presented as a cautionary tale about avoiding manipulative relationships and often depicts Elvis as a very controlling individual who will even lose his temper when things don’t go his way. The film also goes into Elvis’ affair history, most notably with Ann-Margaret and a potential relationship with Nancy Sinatra and despite these incidents being well-documented and known, it is jarring to actually see them play out on screen. 

            Where Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis chronicled the glamorous life of Elvis with him in Hollywood, making movies, meeting different women, and performing sold-out shows, this film shows Priscilla pretty much being stuck at home while all this is going on. It essentially paints a portrait of what a lot of American women had to put up with back in the 50s and 60s in terms of gender roles and social norms at the time, I had no idea a woman wasn’t even allowed to pet her own dog outside her house in public back then which sounds ridiculous. 

            Even though I didn’t know that much about what really happened between Elvis and Priscilla, I found the story to be thoroughly engaging helped by the commitment of its two leads. Cailee Spaeny is incredible as Priscilla not just verbally but also through her facial expressions, I was saying earlier about how Michael Fassbender conveyed a lot of emotions without a lot of dialogue in The Killer and the same can be said about Spaeny here. 

            She’s also amazing when she needs to speak up especially after learning about Elvis’ affairs, at times she’ll do the whole “Oscar Outburst” routine when she’s upset or frustrated with her husband, or she’ll give a more restrained reaction to something. Still, despite everything that happens you do believe the love she has for Elvis even if what her husband is doing is morally wrong. 

            Jacob Elordi is also a standout as Elvis, I don’t think he’s quite as spectacular as Austin Butler’s portrayal from Elvis, but he was still very believable in the role and encompasses a lot of the mannerisms and appearances of the real man. Side note, I just think it’s neat that the only knowledge Elordi had of Elvis came from the Disney animated film, Lilo & Stitch. 

            The production design is bleak yet appealing like many A24 projects where even in scenes that are either set in the daytime or have a lot of light, the characters always seem like they’re in the shadows. There’s actually this drug sequence that flashes different colors and you can tell the crew was having fun with the lighting in the scene as well as this grainy film filter in scenes from the perspective of someone using a camera that I thought was very unique. 

            Priscilla is a bold and fascinating coming-of-age story about what happens when you try to balance true love and fame that’s elevated by its performances. It sheds light on the other side of Elvis’ life that isn’t often explored in other biopics while also just being a well-crafted and captivating film on its own merits, it lit my morning sky with Burning Love.