Sofia Coppola is a world renowned director, with 4 awards, a creative mind she displays in her movies that girls in their youth know and love. The new movie Priscilla might be one of her best drama movies she’s done of all time. We see a young girl in a diner, drinking a milkshake, fresh from America in Germany. She’s the girl next door; quiet, stoic, prefers to be alone, or so we “think.”
Elvis Preseley (Jacob Elordi), swoops young Priscilla (Cailee Spaeny) off her feet. From being a school girl to the princess of Graceland, Coppola shows us her curiosity when arriving there. In pure and utter fascination with the Graceland home, gives a callback to one of Coppola’s past films. In Marie Antoinette, played by Kirsten Dunst, she first arrives at the Palace of Versailles after marrying Louis XVI. Both characters felt a sense of grantedness, privilege by their kings, but in a sense, they felt trapped, as the solitude surrounded them.
Coppola, daughter of famous filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, has a specific way with filming, especially with it being geared to women. In her works, The Virgin Suicides, the sisters from The Beguiled, Lost in Translation all have the particular female experience that we as women often have wanted in films for years. Her female characters are often young, have a naivety to them, and have a beauty that charms men. They are observant and wise women that take it all in.
Priscilla is an example of that, because she loves Elvis, but it pains her when he is gone. He’s all she knows. She needs to, “keep the fire burning,” and look pretty for him when he comes back from touring. The safe place for young Priscilla is the kingdom of Graceland.
What makes this film so polished, powerful, polarizing, horrific, and beautifully sheen is the source material from Priscilla Preseley’s memoir, Elvis and Me, which recounts the years she spent with him and how she remembered him, her life in general at the time. This is why Priscilla is not a biopic; it is a memoir told through film. That’s what makes Coppola’s stories so beautifully told through the lens of women, having their time to shine. She shows us in Priscilla the highs and lows, but most of all, also highlighted in Marie Antoinette, the loneliness Priscilla experienced.
The cinematography captured in this film was so keen to the eye. Philippe Le Sourd who has previously worked with Sofia before, had a different eye for shooting this 60’s vision. The movie was shot on digital, which is her first movie she’s ever done this way. In the article from, “A Fame Oscars” about the vision of Priscilla, Le Sourd said, “It’s about money, how to be able to shoot this movie with the money we have.” Le Sourd also never shot digitally before, but for the style of this movie, it was the cherry on top. Coppola has a way in her films that is simple and yet so aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Like showing the top of the milkshake in Priscilla, showing her bedroom, showing a Chanel no5 bottle, etc. Color was a big role. When shooting the beginning scenes in Germany, muted color was used. Le Sourd wanted to show the difference between America and Germany during the 60’s. Lens play was big for Le Sourd who wanted to be able to capture the surroundings Priscilla’s imprisonment in Graceland was shot with a medium lens so the audience could see every surrounding possible. Le Sourd also said about the film, “It was fantastic because you’re working with a great artist — Sofia — on a subject related to one of the major artists of the 20th century. In the end [the technology] doesn’t even matter so much. It’s all about the emotion of the scene. Digital just allows you to play with that.” Simplistic was the goal for this film and naturalistic at its finest. I also want to mention that this film had no music from Elvis, but the soundtrack is perfect, with the last song being, “I Will Always Love You,” by everyone’s favorite Dolly Parton. The score was also impeccable too.
Overall, this movie is a must see, even if you are not familiar with Sofia Coppola or want a little more insight into the wild life of Priscilla Preseley. It is a must see about one of the most iconic women alive in American Culture. This movie is so important and Coppola achieved this greatly in every aspect she could, being only shot in 30 days. Some might even call this film “The Female Joker” movie, some might call it boring, I say this film is history in the making. Sofia Coppola will forever have my heart for this film.
