Priscilla: a great film about influence (review)
By telling the story of the tumultuous relationship between Priscilla Beaulieu and Elvis Presley, Sofia Coppola signs the perfect reverse shot of Luhrmann’s Elvis and reveals the breathtaking Cailee Spaeny.
Her name is Cailee Spaeny. And if you hadn’t noticed it in Pacific Rim UprisingOr Mare of Easttown, you won’t soon forget her with the tour de force she achieves here. Playing with exceptional fluidity and precision Priscilla Presley, from the age of 16 to 29, from her meeting with King Elvis in 1959 until their separation in 1972. This composition – awarded in Venice – could alone justify the discovery of this Priscilla if it did not contain other major assets in his pocket. Because if he will not patch up Sofia Coppola with her detractors, she continues here to superbly plow the same furrow. Her Priscilla dialogue with Virgin suicides, Somewhere and others Marie Antoinette in this description of a young woman locked in a golden cage. A willing victim certainly – she wanted this love story, still a minor – but an undeniable victim since by escaping from her father’s strict upbringing, she joins another kind of prison – Graceland – inside which Presley will little by little cut her off from her family, dictate to her how to dress, make her become addicted to sleeping pills among other joys. Priscilla constitutes the perfect reverse shot of the flamboyant Elvis by Baz Luhrmann, the bleak underside of the glamorous decor. And through her choice of paring down which plunges us into the head of her heroine and a descent into hell of which she gradually becomes aware, Sofia Coppola hammers home nothing. She tells the story of the influence in a magnificent gesture of filmmaker and sorority mixed together.
By Sofia Coppola. With Cailee Spaeny, Jacob Elordi, Dagmara Dominczyk… Duration 1h53. Released January 3, 2024
