He brought it to us last year ElvisDirector Baz Luhrmann turns the wild, troubled life of Elvis Presley (Oscar nominee Austin Butler) into a full-fledged carnival; thrilling rides, rowdy crowds, even a show tent housing a freak known as Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks). ). Now we have director Sofia Coppola’s remarkable new film about Presley’s first and only wife (Cailee Spaeny).
This is anti-Elvis. Priscilla An understated, enigmatic fairy tale, a dazed girlish dream of being chosen as queen by the King, which ends in adult disappointment and divorce.
What makes the film both fascinating and disturbing – what makes it unforgettable – is that Coppola has the insight to tell the story with a kind of stereoscopic vision.
On the one hand, we are completely immersed in the perspective of young Priscilla, who is just 14 when 24-year-old Presley (Jacob Elordi) begins courting her. She floats adrift in a romantic fantasy, slowly being drawn into its irresistible orbit until she finally marries.
By then, to her increasing horror and sadness, she is no longer the twinkly-eyed American girl lucky enough to catch Elvis’ attention during his military service in Germany. Now she’s some kind of Graceland concubine. Discouraged to do anything outside the mansion other than finish her schooling, she moves gingerly from spare room to spare room – beneath a black bell of her crusty hair. Elvis, who is enjoying the festivities while filming a movie in Hollywood, is expected to stick around in case he calls him to the phone to ask how his doll is doing.
Sabrina Lantos/A24
The film is a strangely perfect portrayal of this hollow existence – Coppola is one of the few directors, perhaps the only one, willing to invest (risk) an entire film narrative with such serenity. Priscilla’s situation isn’t all that different from Scarlett Johansson’s off hours in Tokyo. Lost in Translation (Actually, all of Coppola’s films could probably work) Loss somewhere in his titles), but there’s no Bill Murray to reassure him that he can keep going.
All Priscilla has is Elvis, a tall, cold drinker (who physically dwarfs Priscilla. They’re like the Abe and Mary Todd Lincoln of rock ‘n’ roll). When he’s not sulking about his film career, he’s sulking about the songs he’s expected to perform (Coppola was denied access to Presley’s catalogue, so there’s no evidence of Pelvis Elvis). Everywhere she goes, she’s followed by a laughing band of look-alike boyfriends – her very own Ken dolls.
Ken Woroner/A24
Priscilla, whose dwindling innocence is captured perfectly by Spaelly (the performance is like watching the morning dew evaporate from the grass), eventually becomes as ostracized as Diane Keaton’s Kate. Godfather, The mafia masterpiece directed by Coppola’s father, Francis Ford Coppola.
But there is also our contemporary perspective; our horror at the massive power imbalance between this male superstar and, at best, a very young woman. To us, Priscilla’s dream resembles bondage and abuse – as if Presley couldn’t help falling in love with Lolita. Coppola’s repeated pulling of Priscilla’s painted toenails may or may not be a reference to the opening minutes of Stanley Kubrick’s infamous film adaptation of that Nabokov novel, just as a scene in which Elvis dictates Priscilla’s wardrobe is an argument between Jimmy and Jimmy. as it may or may not reflect a very similar moment. Stewart and Kim Novak dizziness, the ultimate #MeToo movie nightmare. Your mind can just as easily register a cold, chilling memory. bluebeard, The young girl is destined to become the next victim of the old serial killer.
The point is that the film is saturated with this sexual unrest. What Priscilla experiences as majestic nothingness, the audience experiences as something more akin to terror.
Getty
Eventually Priscilla awakens from her nightmare – she divorced Presley in 1973 – but this is where Coppola stumbles. In fact, there is no defining moment that signals Priscilla’s decision to leave Elvis. He just tells her, quite openly, honestly, that they haven’t spent enough time together, they’ve grown apart, that’s all. Instead, we know that Priscilla is nearing the end of her Graceland journey because her hair has gone back from her June Carter Cash pile to a soft, natural style; this signals our hero’s return to normal in countless, much more conventional movies. and emotional health.
At least Barbie He was moved by a sharp implication of death.
Priscilla It opens in theaters on Friday.