Sofia Coppola calls Elvis Presley “like a vampire” in Priscilla. The director tells in her film how a young American girl, still a schoolgirl in 1959, made the King’s heart beat before coming to live with him in his luxurious but isolated Graceland estate. Cailee Spaeny, in the title role, did not steal his acting prize at the Venice Film Festival. From shy kid to fulfilled woman, she travels the painful path of her model, the real Priscilla Presley, who co-produced this tough and powerful film.
“Priscilla was only 14 and Elvis was 24 when they first met,” explains Sofia Coppola. He was a beloved superstar and she was just a child. » Seduced by the freshness of this very young girl, he makes her experience a fairy tale which slowly turns into a nightmare. Jacob Elordi is astonishingly charming, often cruel in the role of the idol.
A golden cage
“He’s like a vampire who welcomes her into his castle,” explains Sofia Coppola. She lives a golden existence but has no freedom and only lives to wait for Elvis. » The latter quickly shows himself to be tyrannical, demanding that she obey him at every turn under the threat of sending her back to her parents. This magnificent house becomes chilling as Priscilla matures in the idol’s shadow.
“I am often told that I like to talk about loneliness and boredom and that always surprises me,” admits Sofia Coppola. However, it is these emotions that emerge from the characters of Virgin Suicides, Lost in Translation And Marie Antoinette. Priscilla joins the filmmaker’s previous heroines in being subject to the slightest desire of the rocker who decides every detail of her appearance.
Chills down your back
“She stops being interested when she is no longer pure and she starts to rebel,” explains Sofia Coppola. Elvis cannot accept that, once he becomes his wife, Priscilla will be both wife and mother. Vampires are only fond of the blood of virgins. “Both are exploited young people, each in their own way,” explains Sofia Coppola. Elvis, firmly controlled by his manager “Colonel” Parker, does not really have free will either.
The director readily admits that her film sends shivers down the spine before the young woman ends up emancipating herself. “Priscilla, it’s a horror film,” she believes. A horrifying story, but true.