2022 was the year in the film industry that revived the era of Elvis Presley. Thousands, if not millions, ran to secure tickets to see Austin Butler’s portrayal of Elvis in a biopic focusing on his legacy. However, tables are made to be turned; 2023 is the year of Priscilla’s story. Entering the world and past of Priscilla Presley’s life next to Elvis, the Sofia Copolla directed movie, Priscilla, allows viewers to enter a life of isolation, glamor and ill-fated love.
The film begins with the story of 14 year old Priscilla attempting to adjust to her new life in Germany as a military daughter. Growing up, her world was restricted to a life in Texas, but was stripped from her at the news of her father’s new location in the military. While struggling through waking up everyday in a home that she doesn’t connect to, there was one pair of arms that was opened to her, bearing comfort. Those in which belonged to 24 year old Elvis Presley.
In Priscilla’s biography on her life with Elvis, titled Elvis and Me, she recalls the nights she would stay up late at house parties with him and his friends, which was difficult to keep up with as a teenager. This is represented with Cailee Spaeny, who plays Priscilla Presley, sleeping during class and day dreaming of what lies for her at night: a night in the life of Elvis. However, things take a turn when Elvis leaves to return to his life of glamor in Texas.
The audience squirms as Priscilla is seen on the screen begging and crying for Elvis not to leave as she “doesn’t know what she will do without him.” This was the known start to the obsession that took over Priscilla involving Elvis Presley. The decision of leaving her family behind to permanently live with Elvis totals to the end result of a life dedicated to him and only him– a life of a spiraling pill addiction and an utterly consuming love.
Priscilla’s life starts to evolve in a more serious direction as she is seen graduating from a catholic school in Memphis, becoming a woman in Elvis’s eyes. Critics and viewers of this enticing film speak on this part of the movie, naming it boring and a waste of a story. What they didn’t realize was that they were feeling exactly what Sofia Copolla wanted them to feel. The days that filled Priscilla’s 18-year-old life were days of loneliness, longing for love, care, and company. The audience was made to see those clips of her daily life and feel bored and almost sad in a sense. The audience was only feeling what Priscilla felt on a daily basis as she was denied friends, a career and anything else that distracted her from Elvis. “It’s either me or a career, baby. Because when I call you, I need you to be there,” were the infamous words from Presley that would forever dominate the life of Priscilla.
As friends, a career and more were stripped from Priscilla, the one thing that remained left was her identity. That was until Elvis decided to put his spin onto her and her look. In one scene, while Elvis and his friends are waiting on a couch during a shopping spree for Priscilla, Elvis notices what is missing: a girl that accurately fits the image he wanted. Filled with innocent smiles and a gleam in her eyes, Priscilla tried on different articles of clothing and saw what Elvis preferred on her. That was exactly when Elvis looked at her and said, “Darker hair. More eye makeup.” This turn in the movie made for just the innocence that was being continually stripped from a teenage girl. But, as displayed on the big screen, Priscilla was backed into a corner. It was either a life with Elvis or a life without and she would always end up choosing him.
Throughout the displays of emotion and stills of certain parts of her lifestyle and dialogue, the audience was left with an unsettling feeling. Thoughts of “How could she stand living like that?” or “Why would she stay so long with multiple signs of abuse being shown daily?” arose among the audience. However, the answer to those questions is clear: How could she leave? A life alongside Elvis was all she knew growing up, and the love that she found comfort in blindsided her. It was only until Elvis went on month-long Las Vegas residency shows was when she realized the truth.
“I Will Always Love You” by Dolly Parton is flooding the movie theater as Priscilla waves goodbye to the life she had always known which was a world of Elvis. As her hair changed from jet black to brown and from poofed up to wavy, it was symbolic of the change and inner connection that she was feeling with time spent alone from Elvis, and with her daughter, Lisa Marie. Driving out of Graceland in her car and past the cameras, the movie is directed straight to a black screen. The movie ended with her declaring herself free from the reigns of Elvis and free from a life in a male dominated identity.
“I thought the movie was absolutely amazing and I would 100% watch it again. I like how it mainly focused on Priscilla because in other movies, her story is never usually heard.” Freshman Kristen Martinez, who is the same age now that Priscilla was when she met Elvis, expresses her opinion on the esteemed film.
As young girls watch Priscilla and are able to recognize the importance of establishing their own identities, the film has already accomplished its goal through the story of a strong woman.
