'Priscilla' Sees Beyond The Prestige of Elvis
Tender and melancholic, Sofia Coppola captures a life revolving around fame and access that would usually be told as blatantly and loudly as possible. Priscilla, unlike Baz Luhrmann's Elvis, takes a different approach to the typical Elvis biopic. The movie is filmed with a degree of minimalism that's almost dreamy in its limited usage of lighting and soft color tones. Taken from Priscilla Presley's memoir "Elvis and Me," Priscilla is a delicate piece of filmmaking that doesn't vilify or glorify its subjects. It just shows everyone for the flawed people that they are. More so, Priscilla is searingly honest, where it doesn't hide the fact that Priscilla was only a child when she met Elvis.
Priscilla's parents don't approve of her meeting Elvis. But how could they ultimately say no? Pricilla's father was in the military. Seeing how Elvis also served duty, he had an unspoken, natural respect for Elvis. Still, he did not like the fact that his daughter was spending so much time with him. And for good reason. Priscilla was only fourteen, and Elvis was twenty-four when they hooked up. If he knew what else Evlis was doing, he'd likely go off the rail. No, not sex. But drugs. Elvis made Priscilla take little pills. Elvis tells Priscilla that the pills are only there to help her sleep. Later, he has another set of pills to help keep her awake.
Elvis continually groomed Priscilla with lavish outfits and other gifts. Worse yet, when Elvis would have outbreaks, they turned extreme. One even resulted in Elvis chucking a chair by Priscilla's head. The relationship the two get involved in goes from something loving to something toxic. It's no wonder Elvis' marriage was abrupt, like the movie's ending. Elvis could be an overbearing control freak hidden under a polite Southern hospitality. Although the film documents Elvis as difficult, he's not abusive.
Writer/Director Sofia Coppola isn't interested in making Elvis look like a bad guy but rather a flawed man. He's not depicted as a sexual predator. Rather, in this film, he's documented as a man who does love his wife but is dictatorial and unfaithful towards her. We don't know what Elvis is doing when he's out on tour as this is a film about Priscilla. From Priscilla's point of view, who knows what could be going on when he's filming movies or is out on tour? Maybe he's sleeping around with Ann-Margret while filming Viva Los Vegas. Often, Elvis is on the road without Prescilla in toe. All Priscilla can do is skepticize and react to the celerity tabloids.
As mentioned, the movie isn't about Elvis; it's about Priscilla, but this is a far more fascinating film involving Elvis compared to Baz Luhrmann's Oscar-nominated flick. In Luhrmann's film, Elvis wasn't viewed with any scrutiny when perhaps he should have been for a more human, less glamorous approach. I would go as far as to say that I found Jacob Elordi's performance as Elvis at times more convincing than Austin Butler's. It's funny how Butler at times sounded like he was phoning in Elvis' voice when he ironically sounds like Elvis in real life. Yet Jacob Elordi is another Australian actor flawlessly mimicking an American. If you go deeper into Jacob Elordi's portfolio, you can also find his phenomenal performance in HBO's Euphoria, where he plays a school bully with a deeply troubled family life.
The real standout performance of this film comes from star Cailee Spaeny, who's spectacular. She sounds like Priscilla without completely mimicking her voice. There's a tenderness and candor to Spaeny that paints a portrait of a young, impressionable girl who found love with the wrong man. Throughout much of the film, we're watching Priscilla react to things. She has to react to her parents' rejection of her meeting Elvis and react to her watching Elvis in the middle of an angry meltdown, among many other scenarios where Priscilla doesn't say much but has to absorb what's happening around her. There's a subtlety in her expressions that is graceful beyond dialogue.
Equally, Sofia Coppola's minimalistic approach breeds a sensitive film that resembles Priscilla's personality. She's sensitive, withdrawn, and polite. Elvis mimics that personality with his gentleness when first meeting him in the film. We see what draws Priscilla towards him outside of the fact of him being Elvis. Both are gentle souls. Or so we think when it comes to Elvis. Priscilla is a careful work of filmmaking that captures the turmoil of a famous yet troubled relationship and keeps its focus on the woman who loved Elvis instead of the materialistic glitz and glamour surrounding The King.
