Priscilla

 

  Austin Butler did such an amazing job portraying Elvis Presley that it's hard to imagine anyone else playing the role now. In this new film written and directed by Sophia Coppola, it's not even an issue since the film is about and from the perspective of Priscilla Presley.

   Jacob Elordi plays Elvis to Cailee Spaeny's Priscilla. While Mr. Elordi tries hard (he's no Mr. Butler but then again, he doesn't have to be), it's Ms. Spaeny who shines in the film. She portrays Priscilla from age 14 to age 27 and is wonderful to watch. Ms. Coppola wrote the screenplay based on Ms. Presley's book, "Elvis and Me" so one would assume much of what happens in the film actually took place. Ms. Spaeny captures it all through Ms. Coppola's lens, from her wide eyed innocence to the craziness and isolation of being Mrs. Elvis Presley.

    The film co-stars Dagmara Dominczyk as Ann Beaulieu, Priscilla's mother and Luke Humphrey as Terry West. The rest of the cast are not well known actors who portray other characters in Elvis and Priscilla's orbit.

    Focusing her camera on Priscilla, we don't hear any Elvis music or see any of his performances (except a snippet), and the commanding Colonel Parker is only mentioned off screen. We see his world through Priscilla and it's actually a pretty strange one. She moves into Graceland when she is 16, marries Elvis at 21 and divorces him 6 years later. Elvis insists she always stays at Graceland, forbidding her to take even a part time job, picks out her clothes and makeup and yet is almost never home since he's off making most of his Hollywood movies during this period.

   Ms. Coppola gets the period just right. The clothes are perfect as are the cars, the sets and all the visuals. The film has an ethereal quality throughout which is a trademark with all of Ms. Coppola's films. She takes us into a world we could only imagine and shows us the the one of a kind reality it truly was.