‘Priscilla’ portrays a young woman’s struggles

By Angie Hund | Manor Ink

“Priscilla,” with a nearly two-hour playing time, follows the story of young Priscilla Beaulieu as she navigates her teenage years into adulthood under the influence of Elvis Presley.

Meeting the rock star at the tender age of 14, Priscilla began a relationship with Elvis in Germany while he was serving in the US Army. After several years of pining for him, Priscilla left her family and moved to Graceland, Elvis’s estate, and lived there under the guardianship of Elvis’s father. She was only 17.

Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla” depicts the despair that surrounds girlhood, the silent suffering of women, the duality of fame, and the inevitable downfall of Elvis and Priscilla Presley’s marriage.

The film opens with Priscilla’s delicate morning routine – each step clearly in service of Elvis’s beauty preferences. In the early stages of their relationship, the rock star began dressing Priscilla like a doll, controlling every aspect of her image. From virgin locks, conservative pleated skirts and an abundance of bows to dramatic eye makeup, pin-up dresses that hugged her curves and giant, black-dyed beehive hair, Priscilla became unrecognizable. Many believe it was to mask her young, controversial age. Others felt Elvis morphed her into an “icon” of the decade for publicity purposes.

In blurred, compacted sequences, the film portrays the early stages of love, isolation, motherhood, acts of infidelity, domestic conflicts and the couple’s inevitable divorce. One part of Priscilla’s story that was fascinating was the way she had to grow up after the birth of her daughter Lisa Marie. After reaching a point of realization and maturity, Priscilla recovers her true self in motherhood.

Sofia Coppola’s film “Priscilla” was an indirect counter to the 2022 Academy Award-winning film “Elvis.” In an attempt to provide a different perspective on Presley, Coppola shows how Priscilla’s life was altered when she was introduced to Elvis. “Priscilla” acknowledges most of Elvis’s flaws and inner conflicts while still preserving his legacy. Acts of infidelity, improper drug use, domestic violence and emotional abuse are portrayed as real parts of Elvis’s character.

The praise given to “Priscilla” in the media is from a primarily female fanbase. Everything from the production, visual aesthetics, fashion and film style appeals to a female audience. In the past, Sofia Coppola’s films depicted the sorrows, seasons, and complexities of girlhood in “The Virgin Suicides,” “Lost in Translation” and “Marie Antoinette.” In ”Priscilla,” fashion symbolizes the changes its subject endures from her childhood to early motherhood. The movie provides perspective on what it was like to be close to a troubled superstar while rescuing Priscilla Beaulieu from two-dimensional obscurity.