There is so much about the Elvis Presley-Priscilla Beaulieu relationship that it is both an adolescent dream come true and downright creepy. All credit to Sofia Coppola for presenting a clear-eyed picture of what it must have been like for a teenager to grow up in a rockstar’s mansion as his prized possession.
Priscilla
It is 1959 at the U.S. Army base in Bad Nauheim, Germany where Priscilla’s father is stationed. 14-year-old Priscilla (Cailee Spaeny) is upset about the move from the U.S. and bored with having nothing to do. Into this life comes the most famous American on the planet, Elvis Presley, (Jacob Elordi) who has been drafted into the military.
A connection is formed between the two, much to Priscilla’s parents’ dismay, considering the age difference between them. After Elvis returns to the States, the two keep in touch over phone. Upon reading of Elvis’ affairs with his co-stars in gossip magazines, Priscilla is convinced that Elvis has forgotten her.
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Three years later, Elvis calls Priscilla and convinces her parents to let her visit him in Graceland in Memphis, where she tries prescription pills for the first time. Though she returns from her two-week stay bedraggled and out of it, Priscilla is soon back in Memphis to complete her senior year at a Catholic school and all but moves in with Elvis.
The film, based on Priscilla Presley’s memoir, Elvis and Me, (Presley is one of the executive producers) follows Priscilla’s Elvis years, from the first meeting to marriage in May 1967, the birth of their daughter, Lisa Marie, the following year, till she leaves the King.
Elvis’ control over every aspect of Priscilla’s life, from the colour of her hair, drug abuse to her clothes, is revealed with no fuss or drama. Even as we are seduced by the glamour, money and adulation of the high life, with all the jolly hangers on — as well as the efficient staff that keeps the wheels turning — we are unsettled by the lack of control Priscilla has in her life.
A still from ‘Priscilla’
In an interview, Coppola has likened Priscilla’s life; growing up in the gilded cage of celebrity, to that of Marie Antoinette, the doomed queen of the French Revolution. It is easy to see the similarities between Priscilla and Marie Antoinette (Coppola made a film about the queen with Kirsten Dunst in the title role), with both women forced to grow up under the unforgiving glare of public opinion. The celebrity circus of the 20th century is no less demanding than the guillotine-ruled days of the Reign of Terror.
While the costume department deserves a shower of gold stars for their work, (some of those dresses are to die for), and the framing is sharp as a knife, (Priscilla’s hands on the wheel in that final drive away from Graceland says so much in so little), Priscilla is elevated to another level by the acting. 25-year-old Cailee Spaeny is as convincing as the 14-year-old Priscilla, as she is the 27-year-old wife and mother; Jacob Elordi’s Elvis is simultaneously toned down and blown up.
Coming hot on the heels of Baz Luhrmann’s riotous Elvis, Coppola has delivered a quiet little gem, which delivers an equal punch as Luhrmann’s glittering rollercoaster of a film. The two films can be enjoyed as a diptych, a look at the King of rock ‘n’ roll from opposing angles— through the eyes of the wife and the manager.
Priscilla is currently running in theatres
