Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla Seeks to Edify, Not Edit

By Sophia Goetz

The last time Sofia Coppola directed a film about a young monarch who lived in an opulent rococo palace but ended up being a luxurious jail, it was in 2006. The film, "Marie Antoinette," told the tale of the young queen as an innocent and reclusive rock star and was a stylized dream of the past. If you're looking for similarities between the two films, Coppola's latest dramatizes the connection between Priscilla and Elvis Presley. Coppola, however, takes a different approach this time around, employing a nonchalant, yet exacting docudrama accuracy.

This is the story of Priscilla Beaulieu Presley's life. It's the story of how, in 1959, at just 14, she encountered Elvis at his home near the U.S. military installation in West Germany. It's the story of how she fell in love with Elvis Presley over her parents' objections, all because he was charming, sexy, famous, and promised to love her tenderly (and who was going to say, “no” to Elvis Presley?). It's about the honest affection they shared, anchored in the fact that both of them, physically or in spirit, were overgrown babies. It's about how soon after they were married, Elvis relocated Priscilla into Graceland, where she was pampered like a valuable possession but denied the autonomy to make her own choices.

Coppola delivers "Priscilla" with eyes wide open, allowing us to experience, if only for a little while, the strange enchantment of having the biggest celebrity on the globe choose you as his princess.