On June 24, 2022, the movie about the life of world famous singer Elvis made its debut in theaters. Now, over a year later, on Oct. 27 2023, a movie featuring Priscilla Presley’s life has made its way to theaters. As the title of the movie suggests, while Elvis himself plays quite a big role in the story, it is centered around Priscilla’s experience throughout the relationship.
The movie is based on Priscilla’s 1985 memoir “Elvis and Me,” describing her experience of being with such an influential person. In the book Pricilla reveals the truth of their relationship. Along with that, Priscilla Presley herself helped direct the movie, being listed as an executive producer.
In the film, Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi depict the beloved couple, going through the stages of their relationship. It starts off with Priscilla (Spaeny) living in Wiesbaden, West Germany and being invited to a party to meet Elvis (Elordi) in person. At the time, Priscilla was 14 years old while Elvis was 24. Eventually, they begin to fall in love, and Priscilla moves from Germany to the United States to be with Elvis despite not being married.
As the film continues, Spaeny and Elordi are able to show the sweet, and almost innocent side of the relationship, as well as show the obvious toxic traits and situations that present themselves throughout the relationship. As the relationship grows and progresses, certain elements and characteristics of the characters help portray what took place at some point. They show that although these two had an amazing relationship in front of an audience, they are just people, dealing with issues, making them no different than the average person.
The depiction of Priscilla’s clothes, makeup and hair truly bring the character to life, giving an authentic feel to what she actually dressed like and looked like in the setting of the movie. Along with that, most of the film making took place in Toronto (despite them living in Memphis), where the sets were brought to life, along with all the other characters in the story.
The film portrays Priscilla’s experience, honing in on what she felt during a given moment, giving insight to those that never focused on her perspective of the story. The film builds up to the marriage of the couple, the birth of their daughter, and the spiral of their marriage later on. At the end of the film, it ends with Priscilla (Speany) telling and leaving Elvis (Elordi) behind in a hotel, telling him she is leaving their marriage. Although, the reasons behind her leaving are not what people may think.
She states in an interview that she did not divorce him because she stopped loving him, rather because she wished for control over her own life, wishing to see more of the world. Adding on to that, it is a well known fact that while the two loved and cared for each other deeply, neither was fully faithful in the relationship. Even with all that, in the end the film has earned her approval, much like the “Elvis” movie.
Overall, I enjoyed the movie and would definitely recommend it for a magnitude of reasons. It can be for the styling of characters, the actors’ portrayal of the characters, the romance involved in the film, and the humanization of both of these figures throughout the film.
The film has been nominated for a number of awards, such as the best film in the Venice film festival, and Outstanding Lead Performance for the Gotham Independent Film Awards. The movie is a total of 110 minutes, rounding to 1 hour and 50 minutes. The movie is rated R; watch with parental consent.
