You seem to wait ages for an Elvis biopic, and then two come along quickly. Actually, that’s not exactly true, for the second release, Priscilla, is more about his former wife than about the King. Yet, suppose Baz Luhrmann’s barn-storming 2022 film was about the showman. Sofia Coppola’s film is about the private life, or more to the point, what went on in the bedroom, as the focus seemed to be more about the conversations (or not, be the case) between Presley and Priscilla, surrounded by drugs, in their boudoir. In fact, you could call the film In Bed with the Presleys.

Priscilla Beaulieu is a young schoolgirl living in Germany after her father was transferred to the country for his army work. There she is invited to meet Elvis Presley, at the height of his fame and also posted there for his days in the army. The pair start a relationship that blossoms. He is infatuated with her; she is like a fish out of water, thrown into a world of parties, rules and still trying to improve her schooling. Yet, over the years, their relationship slips between loving and traumatic.

There is no doubt that Sofia Coppola is a talented and intelligent filmmaker. She makes exciting and critically acclaimed movies like Lost In Translation, The Virgin Suicides and The Bling Ring. It shows pretty clearly in this tale, seen from the perspective of Priscilla Presley, based on her biography, Elvis and Me. Coppola has delivered a polished piece of cinema in which the attention to detail is perfect. The cinematography is outstanding, shot digitally compared to most of her previous work. It has a style that allows her to slip from solid cinematography to look like old home movies without being jarring or misplaced.

Then, there is the attention to detail in the periods the film is set. We get the cars, the clothes, the hairstyle and even the make-up, along with some excellent art direction and design. This is a film that has been well-researched, and with every inch of the film, you feel you are back in that period. Yet, with all this perfection around the technical side, why doesn’t the film actually work?

The main issue is the film never really gets under the skin of the two characters. We know a lot about Elvis and his life, so it doesn’t come as any surprise that he was being controlled by those around him, yet when things weren’t working out for him, he would have bouts of anger and take most of that out on his girlfriend then wife. Mostly, what we learn about Elvis is he spent an enormous amount of time in bed with a bedside cabinet covered in drugs. Some to help him sleep, others to keep him awake, and some just for pleasure (a scene in which he and Priscilla take LSD is a little cliched).

What does become apparent is just how much Priscilla, this shy, retiring young girl, who is almost served up to Presley like fresh meat and seems more relevant now with the talk about the manipulation of young girls with celebrities, makes you feel very uncomfortable. Some will say they lived in very different times, but you cannot deny that being picked up in a diner by a stranger to go to Elvis Prelsey’s house isn’t right. Which puts the film in a bad light right from the start.

Priscilla’s life involves being pulled from pillar to post by Elvis and his family. One moment, she is supposed to be the “eye candy” for the singer; the next is made to graduate from school to stay with him. Along with the gossip of his possible affairs with his co-stars in various movies, having to stay home away from Presley while he tours or is filming makes her paranoid and start to doubt why she is there, which makes her stronger when her final decision comes into action about their future. There is no doubt that they loved each other, but it’s all a little bit strange as to why.

Coppola doesn’t use much of Presley’s music (the film was not approved by Presley’s estate), so having needle drops from other artists and her husband’s band, Phoenix, does allow us to focus on the relationship more than the legend. Still, unlike Luhrmann’s film, it is less showy and considerably slower.

From a performance point of view, the two leads are good. Jacob Elordi, last seen in Saltburn, handles the role of Elvis well but lacks the same punch that Austin Butler served in the 2022 film. That said, he captures a quieter, less showy Elvis. As Priscilla, Cailee Spaeny is a star in the making. She has an incredible screen presence and commands the film with her nativity, and you genuinely feel for her plight as she doesn’t know how to win over the man she loves. It’s an impressive performance that should put her on the map.

Priscilla is technically impressive and does deliver the performances you would expect from a time when awards buzz is being floated around. Yet this is a slow and often pondering film that never gets to the heart of their relationship and doesn’t really tell us anything we didn’t know already. Disappointing, considering the talent at the helm of this.

3 out of 5

Director: Sofia Coppola

Starring: Cailee Spaeny, Jacob Elordi, Ari Cohen, Dagmara Dominczyk, Tim Post, Lynne Griffin, Daniel Beirne, Rodrigo Fernandes-Stoll

Written by: Sofia Coppola, (based on the book “Elvis and Me”) Priscilla Presley and Sandra Harmon

Running Time: 113 mins

Cert: 15

Release date: 1st January 2024