Elvis biopics are like buses – you wait all day for one and then two of ’em show up at once. However, this new offering focuses on Priscilla Presley, Elvis’ child bride, which strikes us as potentially thorny but absolutely fascinating material. Good thing Sophia Coppola is on directing duties.
How to watch Priscilla in New Zealand
Priscilla is in New Zealand cinemas from February 1, 2024.
What is Priscilla about?
As A24’s official synopsis tells us: “When teenage Priscilla Beaulieu meets Elvis Presley at a party, the man who is already a meteoric rock-and-roll superstar becomes someone entirely unexpected in private moments: a thrilling crush, an ally in loneliness, a gentle best friend. Through Priscilla’s eyes, Sofia Coppola tells the unseen side of a great American myth in Elvis and Priscilla’s long courtship and turbulent marriage, from a German army base to his dream-world estate at Graceland, in this deeply felt and ravishingly detailed portrait of love, fantasy, and fame.”
The cast of Priscilla
Cailee Spaeny is Priscilla Presley, Jacob Elordi is Elvis Presley, with Ari Cohen, Dagmara Domińczyk, Tim Post, Lynne Griffin, Dan Beirne, Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll, Dan Abramovici, R Austin Ball, Olivia Barrett, Emily Mitchell, Stephanie Moore, Luke Humphrey, and Evan Annisette in support.
Priscilla trailer
What are the critics saying about Priscilla?
The critical response has been nothing short with rapturous, with special praise going to the lead performances and the way Coppola highlights the vast power imbalance between Elvis and Priscilla. Our own Rory Doherty was effusive, calling it Coppola’s best film in 15 years and noting, “Sofia Coppola sensitively reapproaches girlhood without sacrificing the emotional rawness behind a tremendously famous love story”. It certainly stands in sharp contrast to the wilfully mythic Elvis that Baz Luhrmann gave us not too long ago, but maybe we need both – perhaps a double feature is in order.
