People write rap disses all the time, back and forth with responses, but I have not heard of someone creating a rebuttal to a film. This film releases suspiciously close to the 2022 release of Elvis from Baz Luhrmann, coincidental? Yeah.
Priscilla paints a picture of a less glitzy and more insecure Elivs, unrelentingly stripping away the innocence of a young girl. It’s widely known that Elvis was a flawed man, losing himself in the fame and settling in the influence. Using this power, he seduces young Priscilla while stationed out in Germany during his time in the military.
The film spans Elvis and Priscilla’s relationship, from first meeting to their final interaction. We don’t waste any time getting into it, with the opening scene being Priscilla receiving an invite to Elvis’ house. We are painfully aware of the age gap between the pairing as Elvis remarks that Priscilla is “just a baby”.
This theme is obviously present throughout, with a distinct height difference between Priscilla and Elvis. This physical contrast doesn’t let up the unambiguous age gap, even in the moments where it’s not discussed or mentioned in passing comments by people around the couple.
The story is a lot of snapshots through time, building a profile of a broken and toxic marriage built on insecurity and brief sparks of passion. The story is enough to know the trajectory of their lives, trusting the audience to know the context of Elvis’ career to fill in the gaps. The film isn’t concerned with the glamour of the life she had, setting itself mostly within Graceland, and the claustrophobic loneliness Priscilla felt being left at home, reading about her husband in every newspaper or magazine.
In these moments, we see the childhood insecurity she holds on to, never feeling security with Elvis being photographed with Hollywood starlets and being away for months on end. His disregard for her worries in these moments suppress her further and further until she becomes docile in their relationship, quietly feeling in the background so as to not rock the boat.
We are privy to see these feelings as they fester and build up slowly, until an eventual break in the conclusion of their relationship, and in true Sofia Coppola style, it is simple, forcing us to sit in the silences. Not only in this moment, but through all the awkwardness, relishing the emotions and feeling the connection between them drift, further and further.
Coppola’s style is distinct, and not exactly a universal style of filmmaking, with a direct and confident approach to her craft. She is sure in her pacing and direction. She gets some really spectacular performances from both her main actors, Cailee Spaeny is initially one I dismissed as baseline, telling the story and vaguely conveying the feelings at the time. The more I sat with it and thought back on the film, her subtlety and carefulness was apparent. She balances the uncomfortable childlike loss of innocence with the heavy expectation to be a stoic public figure, keeping up the appearance of a loving and happy wife. In moments where she explodes in anger, we see that childishness, with a culmination of repressed emotions that she is ill equipped to process. The further time we spend with her, we see her inner self begin to form and in times when she is around others, we see her finding herself, making up for lost time.
Jacob Elordi had a pretty tough job, with Austin Butler being the natural comparison from his encompassing performance last year. Jacob has more darkness in his portrayal, brashly showing his priorities with a coldness towards Priscilla. He brings a casual confidence - that seems built into him at this point - the kind that you would see in someone like Elvis, a swagger of someone who has only been told yes. In the times we see him in his later years, this mask slips and some desperation is expressed through the drugged state he was in. While he didn’t quite reach the heights of Butler, his performance was good enough for me to see Elvis in him, and relate him to the story we were being told.
The story is only aided by the stunning camera work, framing Graceland as a pretty desolate house, with muted colours that you can almost smell the plastic sheen from. The lack of heart in the home is shown through the scale and lighting within the home. When Priscilla spends her time alone, the house feels huge and draughty, uninviting. When Elvis is home, the camera is closer and more intimate, shifting seamlessly from romantic to stifling and small.
I have some personal issues with fades to black, I understand it can be a preference to let a scene sink into a viewer’s mind, creating a singularity in a moment. I couldn’t help thinking that I’m about to watch an ad on TV though, every single time it happened on screen, taking me out of the story.
The music in this film was fitting and atmospheric. With the film losing the rights to any of Elvis’ catalogue, they had to use others. This felt like no loss though, with the selection sinking right into the pictures and pushing the emotions further. You can’t go wrong with Dolly Parton playing over the credits.
I think this film is so important, one to show a look behind the curtain of one of the world’s most well known couples. It tells the story that a lot of people don’t want to hear, facing the possibilities that a star they love could have been flawed and abusive. There are a lot of complexities in this particular relationship and because none of us are in that relationship, we are not ones to make definitive conclusions on it. There are simple facts which we can comment on, the age gap and his neglect being two of them. However, even if this film is not to be taken as gospel, the message and story stands on its own as one to showcase a relationship where one’s childhood is taken away from them and the intense emotional impact that has on them, while also dealing with all of this in the all seeing eye of the public.
To note, the source material for the film is Priscilla’s autobiography, which details a personal perspective, which I do believe happened as it is written. Priscilla herself has spoken openly about the relationship and has fond memories of it, even through the difficulties that we see in the film. This perspective is obviously not one to be ignored when looking at the moralities of the relationship, but does not devalue the messaging of the film, even if taken generally rather than just basing it on the story we see on screen.
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