After Baz Luhrmann tried to wow us with Elvis (2022, my review here), here comes one of my favourite directors, Sofia Coppola, with her counterpart, focusing on the experience of this young (very, inappropriately young) girl who falls in love with him. And who else could portray a section of her life that must have been so isolated, strange and lonely than the undisputed queen of loneliness, strangeness and isolation? Sofia managed to carve out her niche, and although, thematically, her movies can be similar, they are vastly different when you actually watch them. And Priscilla feels the same, yet different, from all her previous movies.
What I liked almost instantly about Priscilla is how the movie never portrays her as a victim, even though it never shies away from making us aware of how young she was. In today’s climate where everything “must be” either white or black and there seems to be no space left for nuance, here comes Priscilla, a movie that openly shows you how predatory their relationship was and how young she was, but also never fails to show you Priscilla being in love with Elvis. And in certain scenes, straight-up horny. Now, of course, we can discuss things like grooming and how she should have never been in that situation in the first place. But from what I understand, the real Priscilla has never (at least publicly) regretted making any of her choices and has always spoken well about Elvis. And that kind of irony is precisely what this movie managed to balance; it makes you feel icky whilst understanding that she made her own choices. Again, was she “a bit too young” to make some of those choices? Absolutely.
I thought Cailee Spaeny did a fantastic job as Priscilla. Her transformation throughout the film is believable; she pulls off looking uncomfortably young as well as a woman in her almost 30s, and most importantly, her quietness speaks volumes. Due to the nature of this movie, we often see her by herself, in empty big rooms, just roaming around and trying to entertain herself whilst Elvis was out touring, making movies and cheating on her. Where other films would struggle, this one uses those moments well, and they never felt boring, which compliments both Cailee’s performance (I hope to see her in more movies) and Coppola’s direction.
As far as Jacob Elordi, aka Elvis, goes, I thought that was… a mixed bag. Firstly, Austin Butler should have gotten some additional praise retrospectively, as he nailed that performance and Jacob… I won’t say he was terrible. There were scenes where I thought he was good. Mainly, his physical acting (just the height difference between them is over 40cm, or foot and something if you like the freedom units) was spot-on, and him almost overshadowing her in every scene, both figuratively and literally, worked. He’s got that uniqueness that makes you believe he could be someone girls trip over everywhere he goes, however… The accent with the actual Elvis-like mannerisms I thought was… pretty poor. Even if I forget about Butler’s performance, he felt weird in most of the “talking” scenes. Having said that; I am not ready to call him a bad actor as many were after this film came out. I think the jury is still in, and we need to wait and see a few more movies, hopefully, where he has the chance to play some original characters rather than mimic this larger-than-life icon.
My only real issue with Priscilla was, and this will sound ironic as fuck, that I don’t think I understood her character much more after this movie was over. It’s ironic because for the years she’s been with Elvis, she effectively became a supporting actor in her own life. The movie seems more focused on her perspective and how she perceives everything rather than painting her more… like a fully realised character. I understand this might have been an intentional choice and that this isn’t Priscilla: The Biopic, but I still hoped to learn a bit more about her. We get the occasional glimpses of her personality, what she is into and not, but it’s always tied with Elvis. The movie (quite intentionally) comes alive every time Elvis comes back to Graceland, and he and his buddies fill that big mansion with music, energy and life. Again, I get that was the point of the movie, to show us the contrast of her life with Elvis, and then when he was on the road, I just thought that choice of not really giving us anything beyond that was… interesting.
But I can’t fault this movie with anything else. Priscilla is as tender of a film as they come, and when you sink your teeth into it, you will discover how rich and complex it is, even if it might not look like it from the surface. Sofia Coppola must be one (if not the) of my favourite nepo babies, and I don’t mean that as a slur, like many others use it. She was born into a film royalty; she utilised her resources well and found her niche. I am always on the lookout for what she does next, as she has yet to disappoint me.
Overall, Priscilla is a fascinating movie about one young girl, one larger-than-life character and how they tried to make it work. And even if we know they didn’t, Priscilla’s journey and perspective on this particular part of her young life is fascinating. I also can’t wait to see Cailee Spaeny in more movies, as I thought she nailed this performance. If you want a great, meditative film about life, fame, loneliness and everything else that would come with dating one of the most famous people who has ever lived, look no further.
That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!
Until next time,
Luke