The Reel Review
Priscilla Presley’s years-long love affair and marriage to global superstar Elvis Presley is chronicled in writer/director Sofia Coppola’s biopic starring Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi. The film is based on Priscilla Presley’s 1985 memoir, Elvis and Me.
Just as she did in 2006’s Marie Antoinette, Coppola nails the period setting, costuming and score, creating an evocative, dreamlike mood. Spaeny impressively captures Priscilla’s evolution from the 14-year-old child when she first meets Presley in Germany – a deeply disturbing case of child grooming ignored in 2022’s Elvis – through their eight-year courtship, their marriage in 1967 and divorce six years later. Coppola does not shy away from the uglier aspects of Elvis’ personality – Elvis forcing his penchant for drug abuse on Priscilla, his controlling nature, chronic infidelity and violent temper.
Despite this wealth of source material, Coppola plays it too safe. The story meanders frustratingly at a snail’s pace, more focused on pretty montages than in compelling storytelling. Elordi is also terribly miscast and unconvincing as Elvis. Ultimately this dour saga about Priscilla finally taking control of her life seems as hollow as the couple’s exceptionally bizarre relationship.
REEL FACTS
• Priscilla Presley says Coppola and Spaeny got it right in capturing her story, although daughter Lisa Marie Presley, shortly before her death in 2023, denounced the film as a smear on her father’s legacy.
• Sofia Coppola was forced to come up with contemporary covers of songs from that era after Elvis Presley Enterprises refused to let her use Elvis’ songs in the film.
• Cailee Spaeny won Best Actress for her role in Priscilla at the Venice Film Festival and received a Golden Globe nomination.
Video & Photo
