Priscilla

In the current climate, a standalone film dedicated to Priscilla's memories of life with Elvis seems like a logical step. Elvis's biography cannot be told without the presence of his teenage bride, who had to wait until she matured and finished school before she could become a mother... And now the time has come for this former child bride to speak out. Certainly, by today's standards, their relationship was somewhat "different," but practically nothing that happened behind the walls of Graceland was "normal" or in any way standard. Priscilla wrote her book "Elvis and Me" in 1985 and, twenty years later, added another book, co-written with her daughter Lisa Marie, "Elvis by the Presleys." The question is whether Sofia Coppola really made the right choice and found a suitable successor to her Marie Antoinette. Priscilla's story is interesting, but she found her own life without Elvis quite early on and never lacked anything. She isn’t the bearer of a story that should be rewritten through film. This seems to be the biggest problem with the resulting film. There isn't sufficient justification for its existence. Additionally, Coppola failed to secure the rights to the real Elvis, so the film about his wife became a cheap television production reminiscent of Lifetime Network dramas. (07/28/2024)

After Elvis, it's the turn of Priscilla! The film about and according to the wife of the King of Rock 'n' Roll had a solid premise and it's quite a shame that the final product keeps itself pretty much at bay. We follow Elvis and Priscilla's relationship from its somewhat haphazard beginning, through its turbulent "powderkeg" course, to its bittersweet conclusion, yet overall the action on screen left me feeling quite calm. Cailee Spaeny had no problem portraying Priscilla across nearly fifteen years due to her youthful appearance; Jacob Elordi didn't quite fit the role of Elvis for me, but I must admit he had a great accent. To be honest, I didn't get any emotion until the end of the film - and that was really only because of Dolly. (06/14/2024)

The costumes are great, the acting is unsurprisingly good (Jacob Elordi as Elvis is a hit), but the story is sterile. I know this is a film by the already mature Sofia Coppola, but still… Maybe I was expecting a return to the slightly wilder waters of Marie Antoinette's time? If you have already seen a romance or two, the development of Priscilla's relationship with Elvis will be fairly predictable without ever having heard of them before. Therefore, you have no choice but to look at the nice interior design. Thankfully, there aren’t any downright deaf spots, but for this intimate film being just under two hours long, I didn't learn noticeably more than I did last year from Baz Luhrmann about Priscilla's relationship with the King of Rock 'n' Roll. (10/29/2023)