A Review

Last year, we got "Elvis." This year, we have "Priscilla." Although these two biographical movies share a pair of romantically linked titular characters, they aren't comparable as they are entirely different species of films. While Baz Luhrmann's movie from last year was a broad yet electrifying musical romp celebrating the iconography of the King of Rock and Roll, Sofia Coppola's is a simpler and more intimate affair. There's also something more universal about it. Like, life with the biggest music superstar to ever live, and dealing with his pill abuse, long absences, salacious tabloids, and combative mood swings could be anyone's own experience. Not just Priscilla Presley's. At its core, this is the story of a girl finding the man of her dreams. Then growing into a woman wise and mature enough to realize he was anything but.

That said, this isn't one of the absolute best movies I have seen this year. As revealing as it is, "Priscilla" takes more time than is needed to make its point, which is fairly obvious long before it concludes. Also, and I seem hold the minority opinion on this, I was not that impressed by Cailee Spaeny's portrayal of Priscilla Presley. Yes, the timidity and naivety she plays this character with are fitting as she gets accustomed to an unfamiliar world that turns out to be much bigger and lonelier than she expected. It's the later scenes when Priscilla asserts and tries to stand up for herself that get sold short by her mousey demeanor. Too often I felt she gets upstaged by Jacob Elordi, the actor who plays Elvis in the film.

Overall, it's a fine film and a respectable mood piece. Coppola claims this real life figure as a part of her own directorial canon alongside the female protagonists of "The Virgin Suicides" and "Lost in Translation," two other movies about young women longing for a defining chapter of their lives. There's also some good music sprinkled throughout. Nothing by Elvis though, a reflection of his absence in the real Priscilla Presley's life.