The Power of Perspective in ‘Priscilla’ (2023).
TRIGGER WARNING: Mentions of paedophilia, grooming, abuse, rape.
Sofia Coppola excels at telling intimate stories of coming of age and womanhood. Priscilla (2023) is an outstanding example of this, making an excellent addition to her repertoire. Coppola is well-versed in taking her audience down the paths of layered, nuanced relationships, and the relationship between Priscilla and Elvis Presley was far from simple.
Luscious lashes, pink carpets, and romantic sixties rock are among the first things we experience in Priscilla’s world, but don’t let the music fool you. This story is not a romance. At the beginning of the film, Priscilla is a fourteen-year-old girl still in the ninth grade. This fact makes it all the more unpleasant that the first interaction we see her have is with an older man (one of Elvis’ buddies) inviting her to a party to meet Elvis. A twenty-four-year-old Elvis, to be exact. The film does not shy away from this unsettling fact when the two meet. “You’re just a baby,” Elvis smiles.
Priscilla (Cailee Spaeny).
From this point on, the film carefully follows the relationship between the adult Elvis and the child Priscilla as he grooms her. But thank goodness sex is “sacred” to him, and he does nothing to warrant any protective action from Priscilla’s parents. By the time Priscilla’s mother does start to show concern when Priscilla is seventeen, it’s too late: "He's not like you imagine, and he needs me, Mom. I won't get hurt." She's caught in the trap.
This is not a fast-paced affair but a path of slow, tactical manoeuvres on Elvis’ part. He begins by confiding in Priscilla to earn her trust, encourage intimacy, and make her feel important to him. As Priscilla gets older, he persuades her parents to let her go on trips to see him and, eventually, stay with him at Graceland whilst still finishing high school. He then displays more unsettling patterns. He systematically isolates her, grows controlling, and gradually becomes more aggressive towards her as time goes on.
Elvis (Jacob Elordi) and Priscilla (Cailee Spaeny).
Like most abusive relationships, the mistreatment starts small and escalates gradually in a way that is imperceptible from the inside but clear as day to the onlooker. When she first speaks up about him telling her what to wear, he laughs her off in dismissal. Then, he starts to become physically rough with her, giving hollow apologies until her trust is re-earned. He gaslights her and intimidates her when she confronts him with evidence of his affairs. Eventually, he becomes cold, distant, and explosive at the slightest provocation, throwing a chair at Priscilla’s head when she gives him an opinion he doesn’t like.
In these instances of emotional and physical violence, he plays two self-appointed roles: the punisher and the carer. He exerts power over her whenever she disobeys him, deliberately causing her distress, but also acts as her sole source of comfort so that he can reassert himself as the centre of her world and the only one who loves her. That way, he can continue to abuse her.
Priscilla (Cailee Spaeny).
Oftentimes, I saw some of my own experiences as a victim of emotional abuse reflected back at me. I saw Priscilla as though I was watching myself live through those experiences again. I felt her heart hurting as though it were my own. That sensation was, in part, thanks to the talent of actors Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi, who portrayed their characters with breathtaking realism, and Sofia Coppola, who expertly captured the volatility of Priscilla and Elvis’ relationship. But the film couldn’t exist without the real Priscilla Presley speaking out about her experiences with brave depth.
My natural instinct is not to lump the film Priscilla with the recent biopic Elvis (2022), seeing as Priscilla deserves her own spotlight away from the glittering King, but there is a vital connection to be made when watching these films side by side. In Elvis, the majority of Priscilla and Elvis’ relationship, up until the birth of their first child, is covered within a two-minute montage. Starting from the first time she and Elvis meet, Priscilla tells the real story of their relationship over two hours. In other words, Elvis quite literally glosses over the relationship and all its abuse. I suppose keeping the King on his pedestal would have been difficult if they had shown his unsavoury side.
This is why Priscilla’s biopic shines in comparison. It’s the missing piece of the puzzle. The collection of damning details- carefully omitted. Priscilla provides a powerful perspective that brings Elvis’ character and god-like reputation into question.
Priscilla (Cailee Spaeny).
In the film Priscilla, her relationship with Elvis culminates when she is twenty-six, and they are years into marriage. He attempts to force himself on her, pinning her down and saying, “This is how a real man makes love to his woman.” She fights him off, barely, and immediately states that she’s leaving him. He asks her if she’s out of her mind. What Sofia Coppola left out, according to the book Elvis & Me (1986), written by Priscilla Presley herself, was that he didn’t just try to force himself on her. He did.
In the memoir on which this biopic was primarily based, Priscilla writes, “He grabbed me and forcefully made love to me. It was uncomfortable and unlike any other time he’d ever made love to me before,” (Pau, 2023). It’s disappointing that Coppola pulled her punches on her portrayal of Elvis, but there were external pressures involved, (Hiatt, 2023). Priscilla and Elvis’ daughter, Lisa Marie, even described the script of the film as “vengeful and contemptuous,” (Mendez, 2023). Coppola has also stated that she never wanted to “take someone down” (Hiatt, 2023).
Staying firmly in Priscilla’s perspective was an excellent way to tell this story of womanhood, but it did mean other details of Elvis’ deeds were left out. Like how Priscilla was far from the only minor he engaged in a relationship with. According to Salon, “An Amazon documentary, “Elvis's Women,” details how the legend's friends, who dub themselves the Memphis Mafia, would go down to a horde of fans and pick out young girls for the singer and bring them to him,” (Pau, 2023). He even used to have a saying: “14 will get you 20” (Verrico, 2023).
Priscilla (Cailee Spaeny).
Priscilla truly comes to life on screen in this biopic. Coppola frames her story as an intimate dance between womanhood, loneliness, and self-actualisation in the way that she does best. We feel trapped with Priscilla as she suffocates in the walls of Graceland. We feel scared for her whenever Elvis looms. Her perspective is the heartbeat of the film. Priscilla will change the way that you think about Elvis Presley, and it will make you question why our society continues to glorify terrible people just because of their fame. It’s a story about what happens when we place those kinds of people on a pedestal and the people who suffer because of it. Perspective is important.
This is not a love story. It’s a prison break.
References and Research
Hiatt, B. (2023, November 3). Sofia Coppola Fought to Leave in ‘Dark Stuff’ About Elvis in ‘Priscilla’. Rolling Stone. https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/sofia-coppola-priscilla-presley-elvis-dark-stuff-cailee-spaeny-jacob-elordi-1234868852/
Keegan, R. (2023, August 23). Priscilla Presley Entrusts Sofia Coppola to Tell Her Story: “I Felt She Could Get Me”. The Hollywood Reporter. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/priscilla-film-priscilla-presley-sofia-coppola-movie-elvis-1235572034/
Khomami, N. (2023, September 4). ‘Very difficult to watch’: Priscilla Presley on new film about her life with Elvis. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/sep/04/priscilla-presley-new-film-about-her-life-with-elvis
King, E. (2016, October 7). Elvis Was the King of Treating Women Like Shit and Luring 14-Year-Olds into Bed. Vice. https://www.vice.com/en/article/3k8z39/elvis-was-the-king-of-treating-women-like-shit-and-luring-14-year-olds-into-bed
Lane, A. (2023, November 3). “Priscilla” Presents the Echoing Void of Elvis’s Fame. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/11/13/priscilla-movie-review-dream-scenario
Mendez, M. (2023, November 3). Why Priscilla‘s Depiction of Elvis Is Sparking Controversy. Time. https://time.com/6331311/priscilla-sofia-coppola-lisa-marie-presley-emails/
Moore, J & Gray, M. (2023, November 7). Priscilla Presley Says She Was 'Very Concerned' About Priscilla Movie, but Now Thinks 'It's Right On'. People. https://people.com/priscilla-presley-praises-sofia-coppola-priscilla-movie-8387678
Olsen, S. (2023, November 7). Priscilla Presley Says Sofia Coppola "Did an Amazing Job" With Her Biopic ‘Priscilla’. Cosmopolitan. https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/movies/a45023196/priscilla-presley-reaction-sofia-coppola-movie/
Pau, K. (2023, November 13). The real story of grooming that "Priscilla" leaves out. Salon. https://www.salon.com/2023/11/13/priscilla-grooming-sofia-coppola/
Piccotti, T. (2023, November 3). How the Presley Family Feels About the New Priscilla Movie. Biography. https://www.biography.com/celebrities/a45735605/priscilla-presley-lisa-marie-presley-react-to-priscilla-movie
The Telegraph. (2024, January 3).‘Uncomfortable’ sex and trips to the morgue: what Priscilla doesn’t tell you about life with Elvis. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2024/01/03/what-priscilla-doesnt-tell-you-about-life-with-elvis/
Verrico, L. (2023, June 22). Is Elvis Presley due his #MeToo moment? His teenage girlfriends speak out. The Sunday Times. https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/elvis-women-documentary-relationships-women-h9cd9clxv
Woerner, M. (2023, November 4). ‘Priscilla’ Movie Accuracy: What’s True And What’s False? Variety. https://variety.com/lists/priscilla-movie-accuracy-true-false/