The latest biographical drama film, “Priscilla,” takes the audience by surprise by illustrating the challenges of the Presleys’ relationship through Priscilla Presley’s eyes. This movie gained a lot of attention on social media which urged me to find out what the hype is all about.
Director Sofia Coppola (“The Virgin Suicides”) has been widely known for how she portrays femininity and youth in her movies which is why I found similarities between Priscilla and the other young female characters in her movies. The first scene takes place in the US Air Force base in Germany, where a young girl, Priscilla (Cailee Spaeny), is sitting in a nearby diner and gets asked about Elvis Presley (Jacob Elordi) by a man named Terry West (Luke Humphrey). This scene left a huge impression on me because it emphasized how popular Elvis was and an attempt to explain why Priscilla continued to be infatuated with him. When Elvis and Priscilla first meet, he finds out that she is a freshman in high school and whistles and calls her a “baby.” This was very unsettling because Elvis was well aware of her age, but he continued to flirt with her and get intimate.
The music score was supervised by the French indie pop band Phoenix and Thomas Mars. One particular song that stood out to me was “Baby, I Love You” by the punk rock band Ramones. It is a very slow yet cheerful song which reminds people of the 1980s.
Costume designer, Stacey Battat, did an incredible job in bringing back the 1980s style with the dresses for Priscilla. In the beginning of the movie, Priscilla would often wear dresses for a young girl and by the end of the movie, she started to wear dress pants which could symbolize how she matured. Production designer, Tamara Deverell, accurately recreated the “Graceland Mansion” in terms of the structure. Even though there are frequent parties at the mansion, there is a sense of unhappiness with the excessive use of dark and blue colors.
Throughout the movie, Elvis’ aggressive behavior progressed and there were specific moments which left me astounded. For example, when he threw a chair at her when she disagreed with him, and the continuous cheating and manipulation. Both of the main actors, Elordi and Spaeny, did a phenomenal job portraying their characters and making the audience feel the emotions. The scene where Elvis flirts with a woman in front of Priscilla and whistles at her reminded me of in the beginning of the movie, when he whistles upon finding out how young Priscilla was. However, I would have liked to see more of how Priscilla progressed after the divorce because the ending felt somewhat rushed.
Overall, the movie was definitely worth the watch. The cinematography was great and each scene helped the audience gain a better understanding of the plot. I am definitely excited to see more of Coppola’s work after this movie.
