Priscilla
On the outside, Priscilla Presley was living a fantasy as a normal girl chosen to be the Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll. Living in his southern palace with the finest clothes and constant admiration, she was swept up into his orbit. Sofia Coppola invites the audience to stand by Priscilla’s side as she embarks on the destruction of her innocence by infatuation through a dreamy, suffocating perspective.
Adapted from Priscilla’s memoir, Elvis and Me, a 14-year-old Priscilla is sitting alone at a diner in West Germany when a stranger approaches her to invite her to meet Elvis Presley. A few nights later she attends the party where Elvis takes a liking to her that seems to keep him amused when she reveals she is only in ninth grade. To come is a soft-draped, eerily collection of core memories spanning 14 years in a young Priscilla’s life. This is a story of a hidden life amongst one of the most prolific entertainers in the world. Following the classic tropes of celebrity and addiction, Priscilla taps into the collapse of a relationship and disenchantment.
Coppola creates a reverse biopic through her focus on mood as she lays out the fantasy of an idea. Priscilla’s memories are structured by her girlhood that later transform into haunting images of flawed love. The thing that is beautiful in this point of view is how Priscilla filters the idea of Elvis while she chases their romance. At the heart of it is a girl who had a wish that led to a life she didn’t expect. She is given full ownership of her own story after years of others telling it for her.
Watching Priscilla’s story unfold presents a lot of questions about why the adults in her life allow this, but the purpose is not to judge her. Coppola is empathetic towards her through her writing and direction and never tries to guide the audience to have a strong opinion towards anything that unfolds throughout the film. She is focused on Priscilla recounting and reflecting on her experience during that era of womanhood and allowing the viewer to intake and fill in the blanks. Following her from teenage obsession to isolation to self-discovery makes this once-in-a-lifetime story relatable. Drawing from her own filmography of capturing women wandering uncertainty, Coppola honestly captures the story of Priscilla through beauty and pain.
Cailee Spaeny is alluring through the transformation of Priscilla from child to adulthood. She portrays a portrait of loneliness through such delicacy, through her performance and Coppola’s lens she is never seen as a victim or naive. Spaeny perfectly balances her innocence and growth through different stages of Priscilla’s life. She tries hard to fit this idea of what a grown woman is with her winged eyeliner and iconic hair, but although she changes physically she still has a childlike nature in her curiosity. Often silent as she is left to process her new experience alone, Spaeny inhibits a watchful behavior as you can feel her taking in these moments of her life. She wades like a lost soul in a pool of stardom.
Priscilla never aims to judge the actions of Elvis but to present a domesticated side that the world has never experienced. Priscilla and Elvis go through complicated stages of their relationship but an unbreakable bond remains. Throughout the film, their hushed relationship remains something close to the both of them revealing fractures in their love language. It seems like what brings them together is the idea of desire and dreams so when Priscilla finally breaks out, there is nothing really holding her down except the child they shared. It was her realizing this dream is over and she must move on. Jacob Elordi plays Elvis, very understated and exhausted compared to many other on-screen stiff portrayals. Watching the King at home with his messed up hair brings a sense of pathetic humility to an American myth.
The lifestyle of Elvis is often known for its maximalist kitschiness, but Coppola strips it down into muted and modest colors in order to explore being a teenager in Graceland. A lot of the interior shots possess a light-play to express the internal emotions of Priscilla visually. There is no stress to make it feel accurate, but how Priscilla would have viewed it from stepping in to ultimately living in isolation in the wedding cake-esque estate. Priscilla’s intimate world is full of pastels opposite of the drearyiness of her previous life in Germany. There is something so outspoken about watching her ghost-like presence drift amongst the pink carpets and dark drapes of one of America’s most famous locations.
Priscilla is a vividly haunting entry into Coppola’s iconic filmography of female reclamation and quiet details, both fitting the mold of a Sofia Coppola film while exploring new lengths of melodic poetry.