I can't help comparing Sofia Coppola's PRISCILLA to last year Baz Luhrmann epic, ELVIS. Whereas Luhrmann portrayed the King of Rock 'n' Roll as a larger-than-life, godlike figure, PRISCILLA serves him up as an emotionally insecure man-child with serious anger and control issues. I find Coppola's portrayal much more believable.

ELVIS skirted a major issue: that when he and Priscilla met, he was grown man of 24 while she was a naive, impressionable child of 14. He must have been charming as hell to convince her parents to let her keep time with him, let alone move across the ocean to Graceland while she was still in high school!

PRISCILLA explores that avenue in great--even harrowing--detail. Even though a decade separated them physically, his emotional maturity was no greater than hers. The stress of living with Elvis became so great, Priscilla took to popping pills along with him--and not one member of the man's sycophantic retinue thought to question it.

In the film, Elvis is a good 18 inches taller than Priscilla. He towers over her the entire time, and not just physically. The real-life Elvis was indeed taller than his wife, but not by that much! So I'm guessing the film's height difference was intended symbolically. If so, it worked.

The acting is uniformly strong. Cailee Spaeny shows us a Priscilla who grows up from a doe-eyed kid into a confident, self-sufficient woman who finally works up the courage to end her suffocating marriage.

Meanwhile, Jacob Elordi looks more like Elvis than Austin Butler did. He delves so deeply into the character, I often forgot that I was seeing an actor play a part. Elordi's performance is every bit as strong as Butler's was. I wonder if he, too, will receive an Oscar nomination?

Coincidentally, I read Priscilla's memoir, "Elvis and Me," just last year. Based on my recall, this film is a pretty faithful adaptation of the book. However, unlike the book, it ends abruptly when she leaves him. I initially found it jarring; but in retrospect, the film ended exactly when it should have. There was no need to show the Presleys' divorce and subsequent friendship, let alone the man's premature death at age 42.

If you're an Elvis worshiper, PRISCILLA's anything-but-reverent portrayal of the man could very well anger you. But if, like me, you're more of a reality-based Elvis fan, I imagine you'll respect the film as much as I do.

MY RATING: 9/10

It should have ended with Leslie Nielsen looking up her skirt and complimenting her... taxidermy skills.

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BR

On Friday, November 10, 2023 at 11:05:02 AM UTC-5, Bob Roman wrote:

> It should have ended with Leslie Nielsen looking up her skirt and complimenting her... taxidermy skills.

No. That would have been funny. And "Priscilla" was a thoroughly joyless movie--just like her marriage to Elvis.