“Priscilla” is based on “Elvis and Me”, Priscilla Presley’s version of her life with Elvis.  

Q.  WOULD LISA MARIE PRESLEY HAVE APPROVED OF “PRISCILLA”?   SHE WOULD READ THE SCREENPLAY FIVE MONTHS BEFORE HER DEATH.  HER COMMENT TO DIRECTOR AND SCREENWRITER SOFIA COPPOLA IN THE CAPTION BELOW.

A. “MY FATHER COMES OFF AS A PREDATOR AND MANIPULATIVE.  I READ THIS AND SEE YOUR SHOCKING VENGEFUL AND CONTEMPTUOUS PERSPECTIVE AND I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY.”

Executive Producer of Priscilla is Elvis’s ex-wife Priscilla Presley

Writer/director Sofia Coppola

REVIEW.  (CONTAINS SPOILERS)  The first third of Priscilla is the part that works.  Director/screenwriter Sofia Coppola captures the time, the place and the characters.  She has the eye and is keen on detail.

1959.  Elvis, soon after the death of his mother, meets Priscilla Beaulieu in Germany while in the Army.  The wound left open by his mother’s passing leaves him open and vulnerable.  He sees in Priscilla (believe it or not), a new mother figure – someone he can cast all his pain and sorrow.

Actress Cailey Spaeny as Priscilla is the film.  Jacob Elordi has the look of Elvis and is able to carry it off in the beginning.  But, this is Priscilla’s story and is Elvis is forced to take a back seat.  There is very little of him singing.  What we have here is a more personal story.

Cailee Spaeny as Priscilla

In 1961, Elvis talks Priscilla’s parents into her letting her come live with him in Graceland.  This will be her new home until their separation in 1972.

Priscilla begins to falter by making Elvis too downbeat and gloomy.  Yes, that was a side to him.  Why is he always like that?  Those who knew him called him fun-loving, always laughing, someone who played practical jokes.  Elordi’s Elvis should have been a mortician.

Jacob Elordi as Elvis

Priscilla’s “Elvis” studies philosophy and refuses to have sex with her.  All of this is true.  Elvis was old fashioned at heart and wants his bride to remain a virgin and so she did until their marriage in 1967.  Nine months to the day after, Lisa Marie is born.

Here we come to the final third, where the relationship begins to fray.  It should be made clear – both cheated on each other.  But Priscilla focuses on Elvis’s infidelity.

Following Lisa Marie’s birth, Elvis expected Priscilla to be a stay-at-home mom while he went on tour.  That was not the life she wanted.  Peculiarly, Elvis imparts another rule – that he doesn’t like having sex with a woman who has had children.  Where does that leave Priscilla?

The film barely touches on her affair with Mike Stone, her karate instructor.  This affair began in 1970.  Elvis remained ignorant of it until one of his bodyguards told him after their separation.

December 1971.  Priscilla tells Elvis she doesn’t love him anymore.  And it is over.

Dolly’s Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” ends the film:  a song submitted to Elvis back in 1975.  It would fall through because Dolly wouldn’t give up the copyright to Col. Tom Parker.

The film’s strongest points are the direction (Sofia Coppola is a favorite of mine) and the cinematography by Phillippe Le Sourd.  It has that glossy sheen.  There are many beautiful camera shots.

Weaker points:  Elvis isn’t always portrayed in a good light.  His fans may not like this film.  Feminists will argue that – in the end – his wife was right to leave him.  Others will argue that Elvis gave her everything and that she betrayed him.

It would have been interesting to show that final year – 1977.  Elvis and Priscilla still maintained a relationship.  The last thing he said (not in the movie) was that they’d reunite in another place and in another time.

Text © 2023 – EricReports