Priscilla review: This dark story will totally upset Elvis fans (and not in a good way), writes BRIAN VINER
Priscilla (15, 113 minutes)
Verdict: Return to sender
Everyone But You (15, 103 min)
Verdict: Lame rom-com
Elvis Presley himself said it best, or rather sang it: ‘We’re caught in a trap, I can’t walk away, ’cause I love you too much, baby’.
The opening lyrics of his 1968 hit Suspicious Minds were not a reference to the relationship with the former Priscilla Beaulieu that had started when he was 24 and she was only 14. But that easily could have been.
Sofia Coppola’s film Priscilla opens in 1959 in West Germany, where Elvis, like Priscilla’s stepfather, is stationed with the U.S. Army. After one of his acolytes spots her sipping Coke at a counter, Priscilla (beautifully played by Cailee Spaeny) is invited to a party at Presley’s house.
To, yes, wary minds, this looks grimly like the sexual acquisition of a minor, especially when an apparently bewitched Elvis (a well-cast Jacob Elordi) invites her upstairs and asks her a rhetorical question: “Where have you been all this life?” ?’ Only in the audience does the obvious, non-rhetorical response arise: that she wasn’t alive almost half the time.
But, undeterred by her extremely young years, he begins to sob to her about his homesickness and the recent death of his mother. “Oh, I wish my mother could have met you,” he whines.
Coppola has said that she was inspired to tell the story by her own experience of growing up with a famously overbearing father figure (director Francis Ford Coppola), and that Priscilla Presley’s memoir struck a chord.
It’s hard to understand why. All she has done so far is a sweet smile. Yet this attention from Elvis the King, even though he is temporarily removed from his throne while serving in the army, touches her young heart. And soon the rest of her is affected too.
Yet, according to both the film and Priscilla’s 1985 memoir Elvis And Me, on which the film is based, Elvis refuses to have actual sex until they are married more than seven years later. Even when she is old enough, he tells her that her virginity remains sacred to him. We are perhaps meant to admire his gentle reserve. Instead, he seems weird and controlling.
And once she’s installed in Graceland, in Memphis, his possessiveness and control-freakery get worse. She is showered with gifts – a poodle, a car, a gun – and yet she is told what she can and cannot wear.
At her parents’ insistence, she goes to high school, but is under no circumstances allowed to bring friends home.
Elvis’s influence is downright ominous. To keep her awake at school after late nights at Graceland, he plies her with amphetamines. For each dress in her wardrobe he gives her a matching gun. At this point, common sense has left the building.
According to both the film and Priscilla’s 1985 memoir Elvis And Me, on which the film is based, Elvis refuses to have actual sex until they are married more than seven years later.
Sofia Coppola’s film Priscilla begins in 1959 in West Germany, where Elvis, like Priscilla’s stepfather, is stationed with the U.S. Army
Undeterred by her extremely young years, he begins to sob to her about his homesickness and the recent death of his mother.
Once she’s installed in Graceland, back in Memphis, his possessiveness and control-freakery worsen
After one of his acolytes spots her sipping Coke at a counter, Priscilla (beautifully played by Cailee Spaeny) is invited to a party at Presley’s house.
My problem with all of this isn’t that it’s not interesting, but that it seems relentlessly agenda-driven.
Coppola has said that she was inspired to tell the story by her own experience of growing up with a famously overbearing father figure (director Francis Ford Coppola), and that Priscilla Presley’s memoir struck a chord. Priscilla herself is one of the film’s executive producers.
Whether or not the pair intended to make Elvis look irredeemably creepy, that’s how he emerges, with not nearly enough evidence of his seductive charisma.
It may not be a surprise that the Presley estate, now majority owned by a brand management company, denied Coppola the rights to play his songs, but it creates a major problem.
The film opens with Baby, I Love You by The Ramones and ends with Dolly Parton singing I Will Always Love You. They’re great songs, but they’re not Elvis.
Elvis began his relationship with the former Priscilla Beaulieu when he was 24 and she was 14
The only time we get any sense of his genius as an artist is when he does a Jerry Lee Lewis impression and belts out Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On. That’s not the same as All Shook Up. That’s the feeling this movie can give you, just not in a good way.
Still on the subject of titles, on Boxing Day I dutifully went to Everyone But You (so you don’t have to), and in reference to all those who didn’t make it to Screen 2 at the Odeon Hereford for the 8.45pm screening, privately renamed to Everyone But Me. Yes, I got through it entirely on my own strength.
Now there have been some fantastic films over the years inspired by Shakespeare’s plays, including classic film adaptations of stage productions such as West Side Story (Romeo & Juliet) and Kiss Me Kate (Taming Of The Shrew), not to mention My Own Private Idaho (Henry V) and indeed The Lion King (Hamlet).
Everyone But You, is a romantic comedy loosely based on Much Ado About Nothing, starring Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney as bickering potential lovers Ben and Bea
The dialogue is smooth, the slapstick not funny, the relationship dynamics unbelievable
In the non-fantastic category, there’s Everyone But You, a romantic comedy loosely based on Much Ado About Nothing, starring Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney as bickering would-be lovers Ben and Bea. They do their best, but the film, directed and co-written by Will Gluck, gets just about everything else wrong.
The dialogue is smooth, the slapstick not funny, the relationship dynamics unbelievable.
On the plus side, as a showcase for fine muscles and great dentistry, you can’t fault it.
A longer review of Priscilla ran during the Venice Film Festival. It opens across Britain on Monday.