PRISCILLA

Director: Sofia Coppola

2023, 113min., R

Cast: Cailee Spaeny, Jacob Elordi, Dagmara Domincyk

(Open Captioning) available Sunday, Nov. 19 (1pm)

 

Ever since Elvis shook up the conventional 1950s with his sexy performances and a new era of sound mixing of country and black genres of music, he has inspired a deluge of books, movies, and criticism. Writer/director Sofia Coppola is the first to shine a light on the 14-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu who fascinated– and later married – a worldwide celebrity. Coppola, in films like Lost in Translation and Marie Antoinette, shows a rare curiosity about powerless young women trying to find their own identities. A perfectly-cast Cailee Spaeny portrays Priscilla as a high school student who lives in a teenage dream come true, moving from Germany to Graceland and obscurity to fame. After marrying the mercurial drug-abusing singer (played by the charismatic Jacob Elordi of Euphoria), Priscilla slowly begins to realize that independence, no matter how precarious, is her last option. “a transportive, heartbreaking journey into the dark heart of celebrity… Spaeny is an absolute marvel.” – Marlow Stern, Rolling Stone magazine.