Movie Review: ‘Priscilla’

Sofia Coppola’s latest film features a standout starring turn from Cailee Spaeny and decent support from Jacob Elordi.

(L to R) Jacob Elordi and Cailee Spaeny in 'Priscilla.' Credit: Ken Woroner.

Opening in theaters in limited release on October 27th before expanding wide on November 3rd, ‘Priscilla’ is the latest film by ‘Lost in Translation’ and ‘The Bling Ring’ director Sofia Coppola, which serves as a counterpoint to last year’s ‘Elvis’.

While Baz Luhrmann’s film was almost exclusively about The King, Olivia DeJonge popped up briefly as Priscilla, but she felt like an afterthought, since the focus was on Presley (Austin Butler) and manipulative manager Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks).

In this new film, it’s Elvis who drifts in and out of Priscilla’s life, and the Colonel is only ever heard as a voice on a phone.

How well does ‘Priscilla’ bring her story to life?

Cailee Spaeny in director Sofia Coppola's 'Priscilla.' Photo: A24.

How many people can have claim to have caught a music icon’s eye as a dewy-eyed teenager and actually ended up married to them? Not many.

‘Priscilla’, though it covers a more limited time period than ‘Elvis’, actually makes an advantage of that tighter focus, since it probes more deeply into its title character’s psyche than Luhrmann’s film did, albeit without laboring the points it wants to make. This is no cradle-to-grave examination of Priscilla’s world, preferring instead to chart her younger days. And let’s be honest: did anyone really need to see Cailee Spaeny made up to look like a mid-1990’s Priscilla acting in ‘The Naked Gun?’ Didn’t think so.

While ‘Elvis’ was all about the clash between Elvis and his manager, ‘Priscilla’ has her story at its core, charting the burgeoning relationship and the challenges it faced. It has space for Presley’s commitment to no sex before marriage but also his adulterous ways.

‘Priscilla’ script and direction

(L to R) Jacob Elordi, Cailee Spaeny and director Sofia Coppola on the set of 'Priscilla.' Photo: A24.

Coppola naturally has a keen eye (and ear, since she also adapted the script from Priscilla Presley’s memoir ‘Elvis and Me’, written with Sandra Harmon) for the story of a young woman dealing with the pressures of fame as they grow up. After all, she has a little experience in that regard.

And as a filmmaker, she’s long proved able to deliver compelling stories that forefront female characters, and Priscilla Presley’s is a notable example. Coppola truly runs with the idea, sensitively handling the chaos that was her life with Elvis and the pain and sorrow of being somewhat sidelined by the man she devoted her early life to.

Given its much more limited budget and schedule, it’s impressive how much Coppola was able to pull off with this movie.

If there are problems with the film’s, it’s in the pacing, and that Coppola sometimes has to indulge in unnecessary montage to show the passage of time –– did we really need to see Elvis and Priscilla shooting guns in the grounds of Graceland? Or see him take a bulldozer to the house of a deceased family member on the grounds because he doesn’t like it (if it is to be a metaphor for how his quirks such as demanding she indulge in his philosophical patterns demolish the relationship between him and his wife, it’s a leaden one).

And for all the examination of Priscilla’s inner life, there are times when she is frustratingly difficult to read, important moments passed over. Still, it remains a successful look at a woman that so many people think they know through footage and biographies but has rarely had her story told so keenly.

‘Priscilla’: performances

(L to R) Jacob Elordi and Cailee Spaeny in 'Priscilla.' Credit: Sabrina Lantos.

This is, without a doubt, Cailee Spaeny’s film. She embodies Priscilla at different ages with empathy and grace. Working with some superb costume and make-up teams, you’ll easily believe that this is the same woman as she grows up with the iconic singer.

Spaeny never overplays the role, even in some big melodramatic moments, and she acts everyone else off the screen. For his part, though, Jacob Elordi makes for a convincing Elvis Presley (he’s not charged with much of the music side of things the way Austin Butler was) and he’s very natural as the man in the quiet moments (and not-so-quiet ones) with Priscilla.

Elvis himself has been brought to the screen many times, but Elordi never seeks to pull off a basic impression –– in concert with Coppola, he finds fresh shades to play and embodies the spirit of the man. He also nails the voice at times. The film, by its nature, had to dive more into the quieter, more intimate moments of the relationship, rather than needing to portray giant concerts (there is clever use of archive footage to show the couple in Vegas and one big musical moment is only briefly glimpsed on TV).

Around them, there is a fully immersed supporting cast, from Priscilla’s stalwart parents (even if they do fluctuate being very protective and somehow ready to let their young daughter fly off to see her older boyfriend) to Elvis’ family and coterie of friends and hangers-on (who enjoy more of his attention than his wife at times).

‘Priscilla’ final thoughts

(L to R) Cailee Spaeny in 'Priscilla.' Credit: Sabrina Lantos.

‘Priscilla’ doesn’t live in the shadow of ‘Elvis’ or previous examinations of its subject’s life. In Sofia Coppola’s assured hands, it works on its own terms, and is helped along by two excellent central performances.

If you were wanting to see the story of one of the most famous women in the world brought to compelling life, ‘Priscilla’ is the film to watch.

‘Priscilla’ receives 8 out of 10 stars.

Priscilla

"Wife to the king. Icon to the world. Destined for more."

R1 hr 50 minOct 6th, 2023

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What’s the story of ‘Priscilla’?

When teenage Priscilla Beaulieu (Cailee Spaeny) meets Elvis Presley (Jacob Elordi) at a party, 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.

Through Priscilla’s eyes, the film tells the unseen side of a great American myth in Elvis and Priscilla’s long courtship and turbulent marriage, from a German army base to his dream-world estate at Graceland, covering the time between their first meeting and their fraught final separation.