When teenage Priscilla Beaulieu meets Elvis Presley, the man who is already a meteoric rock-and-roll superstar becomes someone entirely unexpected in private moments: a thrilling crush, an ally in loneliness, a vulnerable best friend.
Everyone, or almost everyone, knows this story. The media over the years has bombarded the public with every scrap of gossip or other information about Elvis Presley and his one and only wife, Priscilla. Everything possible to document their relationship has been well documented. But, no. The “family” of Elvis, bless his soul, affirmed their endorsement of the film, “Elvis,” which was released in 2022 and starred Austin Butler as Elvis and Olivia DeJonge as Priscilla Presley. The real-life Ms. Presley then produced her own book with Sandra Harmon, ‘Elvis and Me,’ now ready to be released as a movie under the simple title of “Priscilla.’
If you ever wanted to know more about the relationship between the King of Rock and Roll and the apparent love of his life, Priscilla, this movie might fit your bill. However, after all, you will only get information extremely slanted from her point of view. And, slanted, it is. In fact, there seem to be times when Priscilla was complaining or making a fuss that you wonder more about her than him. The question arises again and again and again: WHY did she stay with him? In reality, the answer is that she was a child when they met, only 14 years old against his 24 years. Priscilla today sees her young self as “more mature than her years,” though that doesn’t seem to be the case in the film. She tries to dress and act older but never seems to pull that act off convincingly.
This film chronicles the experiences of a military couple who, remarkably easily, hand their just barely teenage daughter over to a man 24 years her senior. Hand her over to live with him. That’s as astonishing to most mothers of adolescent daughters as is the even more amazing story that there was no sex involved; they just slept together. That is both Elvis and Priscilla’s version. Where is Child Protective Services when they are needed? Well, the arrangement was kept secret and out of the public eye. Meanwhile, Elvis worked to shape Priscilla in the image he wanted – black hair and lots of make-up. And big hair, a bouffant to match and overreach his own.
If their romantic arrangement was a bit “offbeat,” so was her living arrangement. She didn’t marry just one guy. She married the entire band. They were present when she bought clothes, and she watched from the sidelines as all the “guys” delighted in playing games like kids at recess. They show up so many times it actually becomes funny.
It’s well known, of course, that many celebrities live their lives a bit “left of center,” as artists frequently do. But Elvis and his “china doll,” Priscilla, were a complement to each other, way out there on that edge. The unanswered question remains, “What would Priscilla’s life have been like had she never met him?” Or, better yet, had she been 24 rather than 14 during the fateful encounter? The reality is that Elvis raised Priscilla. And to further doom their relationship, he was a child at 24 and inconceivably famous and wealthy. The two weren’t so much apart in maturity.
Cailee Spaeny is fine as the 14-17-year-old Priscilla, but she loses believability as the character ages, and she, the actor, doesn’t keep up. Jacob Elordi is acceptable as Elvis, but the height difference is distracting. I’m not sure if the difference is an accurate representation, but director Sofia Coppola, who triumphs at stage pictures, should not have let this get by her. It makes Elordi look like a giant bent over a tiny girl. It doesn’t work. The stage pictures Coppola seems to love stand out too much in this film. They hold too long and slow the pace to a crawl.
Many unanswered questions in the film are distracting, like, WHEN are they going to get out of bed and get married? And where in the world is Colonel Parker? When Priscilla drives out of Graceland for the last time, where is Lisa Marie? Too many scenes are repeated – think Priscilla at her desk at school, any school, and also the two of them in that awful, ugly bed at Graceland. It all takes away the interest in the actual story. Time, too, has taken away interest in Elvis and Priscilla’s story. The world didn’t need one more telling.
In Theaters Friday, November 3rd
