Just one year after the release of Baz Luhrmann’s glitzy Elvis biopic, writer and director Sofia Coppola presents another side to the story with her latest feature, Priscilla. Based upon the 1985 memoir Elvis and Me, we first meet Priscilla (Cailee Spaeny) as a 14-year-old military brat living in West Germany where her stepfather is stationed in the US Navy. She’s invited to a party where she’s starstruck to meet Elvis Presley (Jacob Elordi) who had been drafted into the army at the peak of his fame. Before long, they start dating and go on to marry, and the film explores the overwhelming highs and lows of their fraught relationship.
With a straightforward linear structure as its narrative canvas, the striking attention to detail in the exquisite production design really comes through. The plush costumes, hair and makeup elevate Coppola’s soft pastel sheen aesthetic, confining the naïve protagonist in the powderpuff prison of her marriage. Not dissimilar to Pablo Larraín’s approach in his arthouse piece Spencer, we are given a powerful sense of the sorrow and neglect endured as a result of being tied down not just to a prominent husband but by the institution and entourage around him. A terrific soundtrack enhances Priscilla’s emotional arc, sweeping us up in the doe-eyed desire of the early 60s then capturing the melancholy of what followed.
Evolving throughout their time together, the complex dynamic of the central pairing is brought to the big screen brilliantly by Spaeny and Elordi. There’s a noticeable height difference between the two in this adaption, with Elvis towering above his wife both physically and metaphorically. Manipulative and cruel, it’s a very different portrayal of ‘the King’ than we’ve seen previously, and Spaeny’s nuanced performance grows in stature as Priscilla somewhat prematurely lets go of her innocence, rolling with the punches of her newly found glamorous existence.
In an early scene, there’s a tender conversation where a charming young Elvis asks Priscilla what her favourite song of his is. She answers Heartbreak Hotel which, in the moment seems cute, but can be looked back on as foreshadowing for what their candyfloss romance would transform into as she herself becomes ‘so lonely she could die’. Turning the tables on history to an extent, Sofia Coppola’s impeccably crafted character study masterfully illustrates this isolation.
Cinema Perspective 