Priscilla (2023)

“Have I lost you to another man?”
””You’re losing me to a life of my own.””

Priscilla was not what I expected from what I saw from advertisements and heard from other people, seeing as I watched it well after release, and I mean that in a disappointed way. Let me explain. 

As someone that comes from an Elvis-fan family, but who knows what he did, it's always conflicting hearing the stories about Priscilla and Elvis. Not to mention, I'd just gotten off Spring Break in Tennessee and listened to all of the Elvis fanboys speak of him so highly. While I agree that his music is amazing and he was a prodigy of his time, I do not excuse his behavior or how he treated others around him. Just the simple fact that Priscilla was 14 when she met him and he was 24, a whole decade older, says enough in itself. This isn't to say that later on in the relationship he wasn't influenced by wealth, greed, the Colonel, drugs, or anything else, but we can acknowledge that Elvis was a product of the abusive industry while simultaneously holding him accountable for his own, individual actions and not make excuses for them. 

When I initially heard that A24 was making a film advertised to be focused around Priscilla, I was super excited. I'm a huge fan of A24 films and have seen a few films that Sofia Coppola was involved in the directing and production of. Priscilla is an admirable woman, strong and independent in her own way, as much as she was co-dependent on Elvis. I do not believe that this film accurately depicted Priscilla as her own person. I take this with a grain of salt, as the introductory credits state that the film is based on the book "Elvis and Me" written by Priscilla Presley herself and that she was involved in the making of the movie. I understand and respect Priscilla's wishes in the way she wished to be portrayed. I have not read her book and have not watched her interviews, so I cannot say that I'm well-versed in her perspectives. 

However, I think that the movie was way too heavily focused on her relationship with Elvis. While I believe that much of Priscilla's reputation and fame is due to Elvis, at the end of the day, she was her own person. She raised their daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, on a majority of her own. She gave back to society, working with charity organizations and activism groups. The movie quite literally ends when she's finally on her own again, which I understand is symbolic, but disappointing to me at the same time. 

I really thought this movie was going to focus on Priscilla as an individual person and her experiences, but I can't help but feel they focused too heavily on Elvis' impact. I doubt I'll rewatch, but I'm sure the amount of scenes that Elvis was in greatly outweigh those of Priscilla on her own. I would've liked to see more about Priscilla's development and experience, I thought going into this movie it was going to be about her. I wish I could say it was about her getting out of her manipulative relationship with Elvis, but even then, it doesn't happen until towards the very conclusion of the movie. I think that it was an interesting film about her relationship with Elvis, the way he treated her, how he manipulated situations, coerced her into staying, her experience of knowing about affairs such as Nancy Sinatra, etc. but I think a more fitting title would have been after her book, "Elvis and Me," or even "Priscilla Presley." Something along those lines, because I don't feel as if this was about Priscilla herself. 

Conclusively, I thought it was an interesting take and I find it fascinating that Priscilla was part of production herself. I learned more about Priscilla's life growing up and her relationship with Elvis, and a lot more about Elvis than I initially thought I would from this film. An interesting and educational watch, but not what I was expecting, leaving me disappointed. This film had so much potential just to be overshadowed by Elvis, which may be symbolic and comparable to Priscilla's life, but not what I think audiences wanted to see. The cinematography and way Cailee Spaeny portrayed Priscilla was absolutely beautiful, with the wardrobe catching my as well, I just think the plot and storytelling could've been executed better. Glad I watched, but could've totally done without it, and most likely won't be a rewatch for me.