All posts tagged: Priscilla’s strange coming-of-age

“Priscilla” Recognizes the Irresistible Pull of Girlish Fantasies

“Priscilla” Recognizes the Irresistible Pull of Girlish Fantasies

In Priscilla, Sofia Coppola’s sensitive, minor-key portrait of Elvis Presley’s ex-wife Priscilla Presley, there’s a fleeting shot of the King (played by Euphoria’s Jacob Elordi) performing onstage. His back is turned to the camera; as he opens his arms to the crowd before him, he lifts his signature cape and his body blocks out the lights. It’s an unusual perspective. In the many depictions of the icon, Elvis tends to be seen the way his fans saw him: in the spotlight, with his artistry on full display. But Priscilla—as rendered by Coppola and embodied by Cailee Spaeny—had a different point of view. He was a silhouette, a shadow, a man she could not see clearly. Melancholy young women searching for escape are one of Coppola’s favorite subjects, and Priscilla may be her most haunting endeavor thus far. The film, based on Priscilla’s memoir, Elvis and Me, tracks its subject for about a decade of her life, from the time she met her husband-to-be, when she was a 14-year-old ninth grader, to the moment she left …