Priscilla Finally Gets Her Voice through Sofia Coppola’s Lens
Courtesy of A24
While the darker undertones to Elvis and Priscilla Presley's relationship are not exactly a secret (she chronicled it all in her 1985 memoir), they still hold shock value. These kinds of truths seem to simply roll off the King's untouchable image built by his religiously worshiping fans, but in Sofia Coppola's new movie, they all come to light.
Last year, Baz Luhrmann gave us his lavishly extravagant take on Elvis Presley in Elvis. Played by Austin Butler, the singer was portrayed as an innocent, young talent who became a larger-than-life rockstar. He was a victim of circumstance, the movie seemed to say, who crumbled under the immense pressure of being a sexualized superstar with no agency of his own. To release another movie about the rockstar only a year later may seem redundant, but the different versions complement each other very well.
Unlike Luhrmann’s movie, Priscilla did not get approval from Elvis’s estate. It is however based on said memoir, Elvis and Me. Priscilla herself is also credited as a producer, but unfortunately, the estate’s disapproval means that Coppola was not allowed to use any of Elvis’s music or shoot at his infamous mansion Graceland. In a statement, the estate likened Coppola’s film to a college movie and dubbed it “horrible”. They also slammed it for its “horrific” set designs. Elvis and Priscilla’s daughter, Lisa-Marie — who was nine years old when her father died — begged the director to rethink her movie, saying she did not recognize her father in the script. Given the often unflattering portrayal of the rockstar, this is not a shocking response, meant to deter audiences from watching the movie. But despite all these hurdles, Coppola stuns with her depiction of the toxic romance. The absence of the music has only made the film better because it forces the focus to remain on Priscilla and not get clouded by preconceived ideas of Elvis.
Priscilla was chosen by Elvis at only 14 years of age. Ten years her senior and already a massive celebrity, he persuades her to leave home to come live with him. Once there, she is left to her own devices while he’s always away traveling to shoot movies and tour. Priscilla is not allowed to work or bring people to the house — instead, she spends her time alone in a void of nothingness, awaiting Elvis’s return and reading about his affairs with famous women in the tabloids. Graceland’s 18,000 square feet suddenly feel claustrophobic. Without Presley, there is no sun to orbit, just a life on standby. Priscilla becomes a perfectly made-up doll who rarely gets taken off the shelf. When Priscilla questions him, she is gaslit into staying. He accuses her of having paranoia to deflect from the cheating, saying he doesn't want a jealous wife. When she finally puts her foot down, he begs her to stay and says he can’t live without her. In a painfully obvious manifestation of the Madonna-whore complex, she’s a housewife, a girlfriend to a rockstar and a Catholic schoolgirl, neither Elvis or Priscilla seem to ever be able to meld these roles together. The things he cherishes about her are also what drives him away.
As in all of Coppola’s movies, her focus is firmly on the female perspective and the isolating melancholy of girlhood, more specifically the dichotomy between being put on the highest of pedestals while also being achingly lonely and misunderstood by one's surroundings. In true Coppola style, Graceland becomes Priscilla's cage — the limitations put on her by Elvis materializing into a fortress that she can't escape.
He even decides what she wears and makes her over to suit his aesthetic — an action eerily similar to dressing up a doll. Coppola’s eye for storytelling through details and capturing a whole life through them has never been more vibrant.
Courtesy of A24
Their age difference is emphasized by the actors’s height. Elvis, played by Jacob Elordi, towers over Priscilla, played by Cailee Spaeny. Opting to show it rather than vocalize it is a smart move. Coppola never forces a perspective on the viewer, which holds space for the shimmer of the love story just as much as it braves the more uncomfortable parts. It’s an unusually nuanced depiction of a toxic relationship. Spaeny impressively transforms from a teenager into a young adult, while Elordi embodies the distant but magnetic charisma of the king. Still, there’s a lingering feeling that the movie just scratched the surface. After Lisa-Marie’s protest, the script was shortened by ten pages. This balancing act of restraint in the portrayal runs through the whole story. We’re given just enough to get the full picture, without it turning salacious.
While Priscilla, now aged 78, had to wait decades for her story to finally perforate the perception of Elvis, it makes sense that it would happen this year, as it follows an especially unique period for female storytelling in cinema. Peaking with Greta Gerwig’s Barbie during the summer, 2023 also presented us with Nia DaCosta’s The Marvels, the first movie in the franchise to be led by three female superheroes. What all these movies also have in common is that they were directed by women, which is still quite the anomaly in the world of cinema. Beyond that, The Little Mermaid, Bottoms and The Color Purple were also released in 2023. Taylor Swift and Beyoncé released their concert movies on a scale that has never been seen before. This year seems to have finally shattered the misconception that female-led movies aren’t marketable to the wider audience — the ticket sales speak for themselves. Priscilla getting the platform to tell her story proves that there is a yearning for the female perspective in cinema.
In a truly heartbreaking finale, Priscilla unchains herself from the life she never chose, but the viewer is left with no answers as to what happened next. For a movie so determined to detach Priscilla from the shadow of Elvis, it is a shame that the story still starts and ends with him. ♦