Did the World Really Need Another Movie About Elvis Presley?

In an interview with Vogue magazine a little more than a year ago, the director Sofia Coppola mentions that taking on “Priscilla,” her new movie based on Priscilla Presley’s 1985 book “Elvis and Me,” was done as a “pivot” away from an Edith Wharton adaptation that was proving burdensome. Wanting to make “one film with one idea,” Ms. Coppola likened Ms. Presley’s experience as a teenager coming of age within the “amplified world” of Elvis Presley as “kinda similar to Marie Antionette.”Ms. Coppola, you might remember, helmed “Marie Antionette” (2006), a picture released to mixed reviews, though critics in France found much to recommend within its fast-and-loose historical parameters. Some opinion makers stateside took the film to task for a soundtrack that was largely ahistorical, wondering if songs by post-punk musicians like the Cure, Bow Wow Wow, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and New Order were suitable for evoking the resplendent environs and political machinations of 17th-century Versailles. Music has always been a vital component of Ms. Coppola’s films. Bill Murray’s karaoke version of’ “More Than This” in “Lost in Translation” (2003) made plain the vulnerability that was occluded in the original by Roxy Music. The pivotal use of songs by the Jesus and Mary Chain in the same film did much to reboot their pop profile. Did “Marie Antionette” do something similar for Gang of Four when it featured the song “Natural’s Not In It”? Somehow, aggrieved Marxist caterwaul seems less user-friendly than Bryan Ferry keening about the vagaries of romance.Those expecting “Priscilla” to include an array of Elvis songs will be disappointed. Authentic Brands Group, the corporation that is a majority owner of Elvis Presley Enterprises, didn’t grant access to Ms. Coppola and her cohorts. My knowledge of copyright law being what it is, I wonder how a re-created snippet of “Guitar Man” from Elvis’s epochal 1968 television special made it into the movie. Still, anachronism in the soundtrack flourishes — from the Ramones to a just-out-of-chronological-sync Tommy James and the Shondells to Phoenix, a group headed by Ms. Coppola’s husband, Thomas Mars.Cailee Spaeny in ‘Priscilla.’ Via Sabrina LantosHow true to life is “Priscilla”? The story of a 24-year old Elvis Presley courting 14-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu is as chaste, in its own weird way, as it is unseemly. What did the recently drafted pop idol, played by Jacob Elordi from the HBO series “Euphoria,” see in the daughter of Captain and Mrs. Paul Beaulieu (Ari Cohen and Dagmara Domincyzk)? An American girl, pure of mien. The junge frauen of Germany proved too starstruck to be good company.Not that your average ninth-grader back in 1959 didn’t know who Elvis Presley might be. When Priscilla (Cailee Spaeny) is given parental permission to join a party hosted by Presley, she arrives dumbfounded not only by the number of adults on hand, but by the attention bestowed on her by one of the world’s most famous men. After sequestering themselves together, Elvis admits to a level of insecurity about his diminishing fame. Priscilla tells him that “Heartbreak Hotel” is her favorite song.After taking Priscilla to the pictures — “Beat the Devil” (1953), of all things, is the film of choice — Elvis talks about becoming a movie star along the lines of Marlon Brando and James Dean. Although Elvis’s cinematic output is nowhere near as dreadful as it is often assumed, we know, at this late date, that Hollywood and his erstwhile manager, Tom “the Colonel” Parker, did much to tame Presley. In “Priscilla,” the making of movies takes Elvis away from his beloved Priscilla and, should the gossip rags be believed, into the arms of co-stars like Ann Margaret. Tensions between Elvis and his pretty young ward increase, as does the usage of pills and, with them, stray moments of violence.Did the world really need another movie about Elvis Presley? Protestations to the side about this being Ms. Presley’s story, “Priscilla” tells us more about Elvis’s wants, needs, and failings than it does about its title character. As played out in Ms. Coppola’s script, Priscilla remains something of a cipher, more of a post-feminist sounding board than a full-fledged character. Admittedly, that might be the point — proving just how dehumanizing unchecked masculinity might be. But when Priscilla either undergoes or instigates transitions in her relationship with Elvis, the audience is curiously absented from them. As a result, we remain perplexed by the inscrutable woman at the center of what is, in the end, a meandering and episodic picture. Ms. Spaeny does her best with the bare bones given to her by Ms. Coppola. But one does have to wonder if the executive producer — that would be Ms. Presley herself — encouraged some massaging of biographical particulars? As it is, “Priscilla” is a handsomely mounted film of minor interest, a cinematic venture that falls flat by being more subtle and more evasive than its story warrants.Correction: Sofia Coppola is the correct spelling of the director’s name. The name was misspelled in an earlier version.

Did the World Really Need Another Movie About Elvis Presley?

Did the World Really Need Another Movie About Elvis Presley?

More from the New York Sun

Netanyahu Reveals He Personally Called Syria’s President After Israeli Airstrikes on Damascus To Stop Druze Massacre

UN Security Council Condemns Houthi Attacks on Saudi Arabia as Riyadh Airport Comes Under Fire 20 Times

Trump Already Blaming Cornyn, Rove for Potential Paxton Loss in Texas

Troy Jackson Tries To Paint Susan Collins as Trump’s ‘Rubber Stamp’ in Last Bitter Debate

Britain’s Tilt Toward Antisemitism Faces Critical Vote in Coming Weeks

Harry and Meghan Win Rapturous Welcome in Britain, but No Forgiveness Forthcoming From Royals

The Plot To Bankrupt Medicare

The Anguish of Central Banking

More from the New York Sun

Netanyahu Reveals He Personally Called Syria’s President After Israeli Airstrikes on Damascus To Stop Druze Massacre

UN Security Council Condemns Houthi Attacks on Saudi Arabia as Riyadh Airport Comes Under Fire 20 Times

Trump Already Blaming Cornyn, Rove for Potential Paxton Loss in Texas

Troy Jackson Tries To Paint Susan Collins as Trump’s ‘Rubber Stamp’ in Last Bitter Debate

Britain’s Tilt Toward Antisemitism Faces Critical Vote in Coming Weeks

Harry and Meghan Win Rapturous Welcome in Britain, but No Forgiveness Forthcoming From Royals

The Plot To Bankrupt Medicare

The Anguish of Central Banking