BY GAY ACE DOMINGO
“Priscilla,” the independent film based on Priscilla Presley’s book “Elvis and Me” is the latest by lauded female director Sofia Coppola. On January 12, 2024, Variety reported that the memoir-to-film was set to become the most successful box-office hit of global streamer/distributor Mubi as “Priscilla earned $5 million internationally in its first week of release.
There’s a scene that might provide an explanation for the great appeal. In the beginning of the movie, an American officer approaches the teenage Priscilla Beaulieu at a diner in Germany and asks her, “Do you like Elvis Presley?” To which Priscilla replies, “Of course, who doesn’t?” Her tone is confident, calm and honest. The sure and unhysterical way she answered belied her tender age of 14 at that time.
That set the mood of the rest of the intimate motion picture that covers the time Priscilla met Elvis who was serving as a member of the US military in Germany, to her separation from the rock-and-roll superstar.
Sofia Coppola and the rest of her team take the viewer into the secrets and the dark side of the famous couple. In spite of all the drama that happened between Elvis and Priscilla, this is no melodramatic romance. The treatment is subtle, factual, non-judgmental. Yet definitely not wanting in the juicy details.
How the teenager and the superstar met, check. Priscilla’s life in Graceland, check. How Elvis’ inner circle treated Priscilla, check. Her parents’ adamant reluctance and Priscilla’s equally strong insistence on continuing the relationship, check. Elvis’ grandiose gifts, check. Priscilla and Elvis in the bedroom, check. Elvis’ relationships with other women, check… If you had not read the book, your eyes and ears would feast on the revelations. If you’ve read the book or if you are familiar with the Elvis-Priscilla story, you will appreciate how the film shows them as real people with major flaws and deep-seated insecurities even if they seemed to have everything in life.
“Priscilla” marks a major turning point in the careers of Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi, from young actors to mature performers. They are definitely poised for greater stardom, if they are not there already. It would be interesting to find out what these stars are going to do next. They totally inhabited their characters. Off-cam, Cailee is sweet and friendly; she is the girl next door. Yet as Priscilla, the actress navigates the complexity of a woman trying to come to terms with the relationship she thought she wanted, while discovering who she is and asserting her personality vis-a-vis an enigmatic star.
Priscilla and Elvis were together for 14 years, six of which were as husband and wife. Their relationship was certainly not an affair. As we see Priscilla struggling to stay with Elvis, it wasn’t blind passion, either. She was in awe of Elvis at the start, but never star struck. She stood her ground.
So what went wrong? Maybe Priscilla was too young? Maybe they weren’t a match in the first place? Maybe loving a rock-and-roll legend is simply impossible?
Among the images that struck the most were those shots that show the height disparity between 6 foot-five Jacob Elordi as Elvis and 5 foot-one Cailee Spaeny as Priscilla. Actually, the height difference between the real Elvis and Priscilla was not as big; Elvis was 6 feet tall while Priscilla is 5 feet 4 inches tall.
Sophia Coppola maximized the height factor to symbolize two distinct individuals trying to “close the gap” between each other, but never managing to.
Perhaps what Elvis and Priscilla had was the greatest love that was never meant to be.
There’s this story (not in the movie) about Elvis singing Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” (Dolly Parton wrote and sang the original) as Elvis and Priscilla were walking out of the courthouse after their divorce. Priscilla had relationships with other men but never remarried, even after Elvis passed away in 1977; she explained in interviews that no one could ever match Elvis.
In life and in death, Elvis remained the King.
