‘Priscilla’ Review: Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi Show a Darker Side of the Elvis Myth

The moment when 24-year-old Elvis Presley (the Redwood-sized Jacob Elordi) nudges 14-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu (doe-eyed Cailee Spaeny) upstairs to his room during a grown-up get-together on the outskirts of an American military base in West Germany, it plays like a scene from a horror movie. “No! Don’t go in there!” you'll mutter from your seat.

It took Priscilla Presley over a decade, in essence, to exit that room.

Sofia Coppola’s film Priscilla, for which Spaeny won the top acting prize at the Venice Film Festival, is a little different from the typical warts-and-all celebrity exposé. Based on Priscilla Presley’s memoir Elvis and Me, the movie is not intended to be iconoclastic, or even spread blame — it’s merely a look at a bad situation that eventually turned untenable and only left one survivor. In short: no single human was ever equipped to be as famous as Elvis Presley was, certainly not him.

Priscilla begins in typical Sofia Coppola style, bare feet on pink shag carpet, set to anachronistic music — in this case, The Ramones covering a Phil Spector gem. Next, a moment of pure American kitsch: a plaid-skirted Spaeny, an army brat, sipping a Coke at a lunch counter, approached by what appears to be an advance man for Elvis. The international cultural sensation stationed here would just love her — can she come to a party?

It’s unclear if this was a typical move of Elvis’s or a one-off. And even though Coppola shoots all this with a spider-and-the-fly creepiness, we soon recognize that Elvis’s predatory behavior is a little unusual. He seduces the girl mentally more than physically. A brief courtship includes a lot of smooching and cuddling and Elvis, who Priscilla’s father notes “could have any woman he wants,” does indeed seem to care for Priscilla.

Elvis's reasons for having such affection remain a puzzle until it doesn't. Her personality is still forming, so she’s a perfect jewel for him to keep shiny and on a shelf. Elvis was a Mama's Boy who was too famous to grieve after his mother's passing and surrounded himself with on-staff friends. He had no idea how adult relationships should work.

After his stint in Germany and a period of no communication with Priscilla, he essentially summons her to Graceland. There’s something about her he can’t find in Hollywood girls like Nancy Sinatra. 

Priscilla’s first visit to Graceland is a trip to Oz, and this is where she first carouses with the Memphis Mafia, takes uppers and downers and sleeps in Elvis’s bed. (Just sleeps, with some “other things,” but the relationship remains relatively chaste at age 16; precisely when that status ended isn’t delineated, the movie isn’t that nosy!) 

Pros:

Cons:

The first two-thirds of Priscilla are absolutely spellbinding. Shot on a small budget without access to Elvis’s music — while Priscilla is on board with the movie, the Elvis estate is not — these restrictions actually help create a surreal environment. Most of the memorable scenes are shot on interior stages, a gilded cage in which young Priscilla is kept like a prized pet. 

Elvis is not Ike Turner, but he’s far from a righteous man. Much of this is due to being on pills and getting yanked around by outside forces (specifically his manager, Col. Tom Parker, who is only represented by ringing telephones here.) We only catch wind of his infidelities elliptically. Spaeny’s realization that Graceland isn’t paradise is a slow roll, and the movie meticulously measures this process gradually.

While that is psychologically fascinating, it doesn’t always make for sterling drama. Indeed, by the end of the picture, the air is out of the balloon, and the conclusion feels like a rushed shrug. Luckily for Priscilla, of course, Elvis was never that cruel to her (by movie standards) but for the purposes of the story, the tension simply fizzles. 

What works wonderfully, however, are individual moments. Jacob Elordi’s body type is nothing like Elvis's. The Australian actor looks more like Groot than the King of Rock and Roll. But his imposing presence over the petite Spaeny says it all. It’s almost cartoonish in how he towers over her, and this physical manifestation of his shadow is perfect. (He also gets the voice down.)

Spaeny is wonderfully sympathetic. At first, she’s just a teenager in love, and it’s marvelous to see the adventure of fast living through her eyes. There are many scenes of warmth between the two, and these moments are lovely.

Priscilla is a good movie, but there's a distraction here. By design, it is far from the final statement on the Elvis phenomenon. But it also refuses to declare anything firm about "bad love." In the past, these ambiguous moments were the secret spice to Coppola's work. This time, however, it feels like a dodge. 6.9/10

In theaters: Nov. 3

Who is in it: Cailee Spaeny, Jacob Elordi

Who is behind it: Sofia Coppola (writer-director), Priscilla Presley (book author)

For fans of: Gorgeous outfits and lavish hair

Avoid if: You idolize Elvis and don't want to know about his unusual sex life