"Priscilla": Lonely among people

In "Priscilla", Sofia Coppola focuses on Elvis Presley's wife, whose life is defined by loneliness and isolation. It is the story of an ambivalent relationship between control and dependence, which paints a less than charming picture of the King of Rock'n'Roll.

Most recently, Baz Luhrmann devoted himself to the career of Elvis, played by Oscar-nominated Austin Butler, and the tragic story of the rise and fall of a rock'n'roll star. It is not surprising that it is Sofia Coppola who now places his later wife Priscilla at the center of her new film. Whether in "Lost in Translation", "Virgin Suicides" or "Marie Antoinette" - Coppola always tells stories about young women, and naturally from the female perspective.

Sofia Coppola's screenplay is based on the autobiography of Priscilla Presley and Sandra Harmon, published in 1985, and so we not only get to know them, but also Elvis Presley from a different, much less likeable side. The fact that Priscilla is only 14 when she is chosen by the ten-year-older American music star as his favorite wife has a flavor that is often lost in the romantic notion of this relationship.

She is an innocent 14, he is a 24-year-old star

In 1959, when Priscilla (Cailee Speany) still goes by her maiden name Beaulieu, Elvis (Jacob Elordi), who is doing his military service at a US army base in Germany, invites her to one of his many parties. The 14-year-old feels suitably flattered and is taken with the rock'n'roll musician's charm, albeit in a very shy and reserved way. Although Priscilla's parents (Ari Chohen, Dagmara Domińczyk) are initially unenthusiastic about the relationship, they allow themselves to be taken in by Elvis in much the same way as their daughter and ultimately give the pair their blessing. However, the teenager only manages life between school and partying with the help of the pills her new boyfriend secretly gives her.

One day, when Elvis has completed his military service and returns to the USA, the couple are forced to separate. For two years, they kept in touch via letters and phone calls. Finally, Priscilla's parents agree that their now 17-year-old daughter should fly to Memphis to see her sweetheart and finish school there. And so Priscilla continues to rub herself between her life as a schoolgirl and her life as Elvis' girlfriend on his luxurious Graceland estate. She finds no connection in either world. Elvis also molds his girlfriend more and more according to his own ideas and is no longer as charming as he was at the beginning of the relationship. Instead, he is a control freak who doesn't seem to care at all that his fiancée, whom he marries when she is 22, is lonely at Graceland while he tours the world. Even with their daughter Lisa-Marie, born a year after the marriage, Priscilla is on her own most of the time.

Disenchantment of a sex symbol

The - certainly coherent - picture that Coppola paints of Elvis is probably not to the liking of many of his fans. He is anything but a hero, and so his music plays no role in "Priscilla". Instead, the movie is accompanied by songs that Priscilla Ann Beaulieu liked at the time, and she was not a fan of Elvis. It is the story of this young woman who lives in complete isolation, no matter how many people are buzzing around her. She is a woman with a man at her side who manipulates her and who is prone to choleric outbursts. So it is certainly no coincidence that Coppola chose Elordi, an actor who, at 1.93 meters, is considerably taller than Elvis. Speany, on the other hand, is shorter than the real Priscilla, who is already only 1.63 meters tall. The visual imbalance in this respect could not be clearer.

A sex symbol for many, not only thanks to his hip swing, the film also suggests that Elvis struggled with his sexuality and only allowed his girlfriend physical closeness to a certain extent. At one time, there was always speculation behind closed doors that he might have been homosexual. Another point that shakes up the image of the womanizer, but only plays a minor role in "Priscilla". Just like Elvis himself. Especially as the moments in which his mood shifts again seem a little redundant and make the 113-minute film a little long.

However, Cailee Speany plays Priscilla just as convincingly as a 14-year-old as she does as an adult woman who finally manages to divorce her husband at the age of 28. The 25-year-old actress won the award for best actress at last year's Venice Film Festival. This, as well as the atmospheric images by cinematographer Philippe Le Sourd, the detailed set design and Coppola's sensitivity to her recurring motif of a young woman in a golden cage, which she already used in "Marie Antoinette", nevertheless make "Priscilla" a film worth seeing.

"Priscilla" is now showing in German cinemas.