“Well, sir, I happen to be very fond of your daughter. She’s much more mature than her age. You won’t have to worry about her.“
Over the weekend, I went to a late showing of Sofia Coppola’s latest film from A24, Priscilla. Following the life of Priscilla Presley from her first encounter with rock and roll icon Elvis Presley to the days of their deteriorating marriage, we get a whole new look at the legend that was Elvis through the lens of someone who knew him best and saw him at his most volatile. When I say that this was an eye-opening film, I mean it. I knew Elvis wasn’t above board his whole life, but some moments hit like a truck when you realize the stakes.
For Sofia Coppola, the film felt on brand for her. She tackles common themes she works with in Lost In Translation and Marie Antoinette, like the female experience and loneliness. While she’s familiar with those topics and works with what she knows, those narratives don’t feel forced in Priscilla. The life that Priscilla Presley lived was filled with fear, loneliness and forced her to mature at a young age. She was forced to grow up much quicker than most due to the star studded life of a music icon.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
The Good
In the 2022 Baz Luhrmann film Elvis, we only hear a few flowery lines from Priscilla Presley. You kind of forgot that she’s a part of Elvis’ life. You also don’t ever receive the context of their relationship and how Elvis was a predatory figure in her life that groomed her and turned her into a doll that he could design himself — from changing her hair color to controlling her wardrobe, we never see that. It was refreshing to actually see the story of Priscilla’s life, but that refreshing feeling was sucked away when you saw the way she was treated.
Expounding on the idea that Priscilla was like a doll, when Elvis went on the road, he expected her to just stay in Graceland and do nothing. She couldn’t get a part-time job or even play in the yard with her dog. She had to be mannequin-esque in her lifestyle without her husband present. But Coppola didn’t stop at Elvis when it came to people ruling Priscilla with an iron fist. The inner circle of Elvis from his father to his Grandma talked down to her. “You need to leave so they can do their work” or “Start using your head” were spewed at her on a regular basis and made it so Priscilla could never be comfortable in her own skin as the new person Elvis plucked and crafted.
That aspect of the film was formidable. Coppola hit the themes she knew and made Priscilla’s life story film feel remnant of The Virgin Suicides or Marie Antoinette. When you direct what you know while also taking risks, it pays off. It’s in the same vein as Scorsese with The Irishman or Chazelle with Babylon.
The Odd Normalization Of This Relationship Left Me Shocked
Seeing Sofia Coppola’s script come together the way it did so early on where she makes this relationship between a freshman in high school and a 24 year-old rocker was shocking. However, you’re not supposed to agree with what’s happening, you’re supposed to loathe the characters involved. Similar to Sam Mendes’ American Beauty, we see an inappropriate relationship unfold with unlikeable characters, but in Priscilla you feel legitimate sympathy for Priscilla. In American Beauty, I don’t think you feel sympathy for anyone.
Going past that though, it’s disgusting the way this relationship was viewed as “normal” when it happened. The modern comparison would’ve been Justin Bieber in 2018 dating a 15 year-old fan and marrying her in 2021. Think of the magnitude of that. If that did happen, the masses would irate, and rightfully so. Coppola making sure it was known that this relationship felt like common practice resinated with me. I felt an array of emotions straying from shocked to disgusted, but mainly I felt compassion for Priscilla. No one around her in this process ever guided her in the right direction. Her parents let this happen and the posse that circled Elvis never raised any concern.
The Bad
From a storyline perspective, I commend what Sofia Coppola did with Priscilla. There was great aspects of the film and it exposed a seedy truth that the masses were unaware of. There were also a lot of imperfections that lost me when I was watching.
For one, I didn’t love the pacing. I’m aware this is a melodic romantic drama that takes place over multiple years and is supposed to feel like the slow chipping away at a young woman’s youthful innocence, but at times, I felt like we hit a grinding halt. Due to that, I found myself disinterested in what was happening. I’m not sure where you’d fix this pacing issue or what you’d cut out because as a whole I think Coppola did a good job, but there was a constantly feeling of my interesting waining.
I will leave room for me being wrong because I could be blindly swayed by the 2022 Elvis film. That was a constant party, so when I think of an Elvis film, I think of the wild life he lived. But that’s not the story being told so I do think subconsciously I was thinking of that.
Two more issues I had with the film were that I didn’t love Elordi as Elvis. I’ll get to that more in depth in the Performance Report Card, but I wasn’t a fan. His look as Elvis was great, but his accent and dialogue were at times laughable. Also, too many feet. I didn’t sign up to watch Pulp Fiction. The amount of feet didn’t offend me, but it’s just a peeve that I have that always makes me cringe whenever I see them in movies.
The Acid Montage Felt Like A Cheap Trick To Showcase Cinematography
When you implement a montage into a film, it can be extremely hit or miss. In Priscilla, we see two separate montages. One that works and one that doesn’t work and felt somewhat cheap. The one that worked was when Elvis, his crew, and Priscilla go to Vegas and party in the casino. That montage was a rush of blood to the head because it took this disgusting relationship and added bells and whistles to it in order to disguise the life that Priscilla would go onto live with Elvis. This was a facade of stardom that would ruin Priscilla’s life and it was genius.
Then, we get the montage of Priscilla and Elvis taking acid when Elvis is in the midst of his spiritual phase, which I didn’t hate because again, it’s something we didn’t see in Elvis, but it felt spurious. It didn’t seem like a scene that added anything to the story, but was more of a tactic to showcase flashy cinematography that we didn’t see prior in this film. I presume that’s what an acid trip would feel like (not sure, I’m not a drug guy mom), but we didn’t need it.
In addition, it felt like this was Coppola wanting the audience to feel that Elvis and Priscilla were still welded together emotionally. At this point of the film when we get this scene, that notion was out the door. Elvis was volatile towards Priscilla and was entertaining other women. In no way did I think the two shared a positive emotional connection. It was as if we were going in circles. We see Elvis “love” Priscilla, do something way out of line towards her and then try to reconcile in a plastic manner.
Performance Report Card
Cailee Spaeny: A-
Dynamite. Cailee Spaeny as Priscilla Presley was absolute dynamite. The way she portrays youthful innocence being broken so quickly was heartbreaking, but that’s the true story of Priscilla Presley. Spaeny delivered on the emotions that you’d expect from a young woman in that situation very well, whether it was a starstruck gaze in the direction of Elvis or a fearful look when Elvis snaps. If I’m being honest, I don’t know anyone else who could have currently played this role. And I don’t want to imagine anyone else because of how good Spaeny is.
The one area where Spaeny lacked the dynamite she bought throughout was when she’d express rage. It felt too forced and inauthentic when she would occasionally fly off the handle and scream at Elvis. Outside of that, this is a near flawless performance from the rising star Spaeny.
Jacob Elordi: C
If we’re going purely off the appearance of Elordi as Elvis, it’s an A+. Then he opens his mouth to speak and it sounds like his jaws are packed with marbles. Some of his delivery was okay, but I found that a lot of his dialogue took me out of my focus. Spaeny would rope me in, but then Elordi would talk and I found myself laughing at the absurdity of his accent in an empty theater. Also, Elordi said that he ate a pound of bacon a day to get into character. How does that help? When I eat a pound of bacon at Sunday breakfast, I get ridiculed, but when he does, it’s fine because he’s “getting into character“. I don’t get it.
One thing that does work in the favor of Elordi as Elvis is that he won’t be remembered for this role, and that’s a good thing. He’ll be remembered for being in this film, but Austin Butler as Elvis will mainly be remembered for the remainder of his acting career as the guy who played Elvis. Elordi will be able to play other roles and not carry the baggage of this role.
Ari Cohen: C
While thematically and stylistically Priscilla differs from The Killer, when it comes to the time allotted to characters outside of the leads, they more coexist than play an individualistic role. And that’s okay because in all seriousness, you don’t care about the other characters outside of Priscilla and Elvis Presley. Ari Cohen as Priscilla’s father was good because he was stern, but again, didn’t do much. I can’t justify anything lower or higher than a C. He was fine.
Dagmara Domińczyk: C+
I actually like Dagmara Domińczyk as Ann Beaulieu, Priscilla’s mother, because she was very bubbly. That’s probably a downside of the real life person because she so easily handed her daughter over to Elvis while her father provided most of the push back. But if that’s how it really went in the story of Priscilla, then she did a good job. The scene that sticks out to me is when Elvis is talking about his intentions with Captain Beaulieu about Priscilla and Ann gives a little look at Priscilla that kind of felt like she was impressed with her daughter for being the apple of a rockstar’s eye. That was a great moment.
Tim Post: C+
Even with limited screen time, Tim Post made a lot out of his performance. He was crass in his delivery where he never trusted Priscilla. Priscilla was the one that was courted by Elvis to come to the United States and be his wife, but Vernon Presley saw her as just a gold digger and distraction towards his son. His mean verbiage in Priscilla’s direction was like a dagger into the viewers heart. You knew what Priscilla was going through, but he just saw her as another woman in Elvis’ life.
Critical Reception
Priscilla debuted at the 80th Venice Film Festival on September 4th and immediately built up positive criticism. Sofia Coppola was nominated for The Golden Lion and Cailee Spaeny won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress, joining the ranks of generational talents like Cate Blanchett, Emma Stone, Olivia Coleman, and Tilda Swinton. Across the internet rating platforms, Priscilla is consistent. On Letterboxd, it’s garnered a 3.7 out of 5 star rating, IMDB gave it a 6.9 out of 10 rating and on Rotten Tomatoes, Priscilla has an 85% Tomatometer score from 171 critics.
In its early box office run, Priscilla has made $5.3 million dollars on a $20 million dollar budget. I’m not too sure it’ll make its money back at the box office, purely due to the lack of glitz and glamour and Coppola’s more sophisticated storytelling, but that shouldn’t detour you from seeing it on the big screen.
For myself, I currently have it as my 41st favorite film of 2023 out of 109. It’s sandwiched between Calls From Home and Tetris, but could rise based on a second viewing of the film. It might have the reverse effect of Elvis from last year. When I left the theater after seeing Elvis last summer, I had it in my top ten, but following a second watch, it dropped. I just soured on it and didn’t love some of the stylistic choices from Baz Luhrmann. There’s a chance I grow to love Priscilla after I watch it for a second time.
Oscar Potential
The strongest elements of Priscilla unfortunately come in Oscar categories that have been represented greatly thus far in other films. While that may be the case, there’s a great possibility that we see Priscilla get nominated in three or four categories. I’m just not entirely sure it will walk away with any wins.
When I look at the possible categories for Priscilla to be nominated in, it again mirrors my thoughts on David Fincher’s The Killer. It’s a film that’s divisive and is strong in many facets, but soliciting a nomination won’t be easy. I’ve formulated (once again, made them up based on quick thinking) some more percentages on the chances of Priscilla getting nominated for certain Oscar categories.
The Numbers
Best Picture: We already know there’s five to six locks in place, but what about those remaining slots? Is there room for a tragic biopic that tears down the mystique of one of the biggest music icons ever? I kind of hope so. While Priscilla wasn’t necessarily my cup of tea, there’s a real argument to be made for it to be nominated. I’m just not sure it happens. 20%
Best Actress: Winning the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at Venice isn’t a great precursor for the Oscars, but it’s usually a sign we’ll see the winner get nominated. I raved about Spaeny earlier in this blog, but I can’t get over how fantastic she was in this. A near perfect performance that the Academy will acknowledge in the form of a nomination. 95%
Best Supporting Actor: This years Oscar’s is strong in the supporting actor category. I almost want to rule Elordi out right away. However, there’s a small chance he gets the fifth slot. He did great things as Elvis, but wasn’t perfect and didn’t expound off potential big moments in the film. 10%
Best Makeup and Hairstyling: While it wasn’t the flashy Baz Luhrmann makeup and hair from 2022, the detail that went into transforming Cailee Spaeny from an innocent school girl to a doll customized by Elvis was immaculate. Those working behind the scenes on this film did a great job transporting the viewer to this time period with the looks of both Spaeny and Elordi. 100%
Best Adapted Screenplay: Again, another competitive field of films. The adaptation from Coppola was beautiful, but can it stand toe-to-toe with films like Oppenheimer or Killers of the Flower Moon in this categorty? I think not. 35%