Cert – 15, Run-time – 1 hour 53 minutes, Director – Sofia Coppola
Teenager Priscilla Beaulieu (Cailee Spaeny) finds herself dating rock-and-roll superstar Elvis Presley (Jacob Elordi). While the relationship starts off with sparks flying, over the years the toll of celebrity begins to impact the interactions between the pair.
As a general rule Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla remains uncritical of Elvis Presley (Jacob Elordi) and his behaviour and actions throughout his relationship with Priscilla Beaulieu (Cailee Spaeny). The aim is for a down-to-earth, un-sensationalised depiction of the toll that celebrity has on the love between the two. Yet, as we see a cycle of abusive behaviour and forgiveness I sat wanting the film to bring in some level of criticism beyond the ‘this-is-how-it-happened’ style that it was presenting, even if more towards those in charge of Elvis’ career – his father (Tim Post) is lightly seen and we only hear mention of Colonel Tom Parker, although effectively so.
After being invited to a party at the rock-and-roll star’s house while her family, and he, is based in late-50s Germany sparks fly between 24-year-old Elvis and 14-year-old student Priscilla. Even when he returns home and Priscilla stays at a military base the love burns from her as she writes and continues to think of what she had with Elvis for well over a year, until she finally hears back. Just as soon as she hears back it feels as if the teenager is whisked off to Graceland where the restricting rules begin to be made very clear. The public need to be given a specific impression of Elvis – and one which contrasts with what Priscilla is, and often isn’t, seeing.
Rumours of his love life circulate in gossip columns. When questioned his anger rises, as the years go on he begins to act out in addition to the controlling of what Priscilla wears and looks like – black hair with more eye make-up. Throughout Cailee Spaeny is superb, tracking the conflicting thoughts and feelings of Priscilla with a wonderfully layered performance. The want to get out into the world and escape outside the walls and gates of Graceland, but wanting to stay and be with the person she loves, and to some extent idolises; even as things are shown to be different behind closed doors. Elordi also puts in a strong turn, going nowhere near caricature for Elvis with a performance which matches the down-to-Earth style the film tries to capture; however it’s Spaeny, as the title might suggest, who is the real star of the show, knocking it out of the park with a truly excellent performance.
These performances are what help to keep the film going during some of the clearer moments where the film is in a cycle. Repeating the layout of a set of events which sees the abuse and control impact Priscilla, for her to bring it up and lead to an angered response. It’s very much the case in the second half of the film and while still watchable, and holding some interesting points, the overall style feels repetitive and removes something from what the film seems to want to pose, even if this is the case of how things happened between the couple.
Much of this comes down again to wanting the film to be more critical of certain aspects, or simply needing a bit more from it to push the drama. The lead performances are great and help to bring some extra layers to the proceedings. But, while allowing the drama to speak for itself with the angle of a fairly naturalistic tone it also means that it doesn’t sometimes dive into certain points in the relationship that it perhaps wants to explore more yet avoids due to not wanting to be too critical. The film itself feels conflicted and in pulling itself back in this way feels somewhat limited despite the glimmers that it shows.
Cailee Spaeny is fantastic as the titular Priscilla bringing a layered performance to a down to earth film which wants to delve more into certain negative aspects of its central relationship yet avoids doing so so as to not have too much input on what it’s depicting, leading to a conflicted set of repetitive events.
Just A Little Bit Random 