When Priscilla Beaulieu was just 14, she felt like she stepped into a magical fairytale. That was when she met the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll. And that meeting would almost certainly have never happened under normal circumstances.
I mean, what average ninth grader could hope to go to a party with a handsome 24-year-old superstar named Elvis? And that was in 1959, no less, when he was playing on every radio and movie screen.
But it just so happened that she and Elvis were both strangers in a strange land. Priscilla’s Air Force captain stepdad had just been transferred to Germany. Elvis was there, too, six months into his much-publicized stint with the U.S. Army.
Of course, that famous black-haired hip-shaker wasn’t your typical guy with the GI blues. No never-ending calisthenics and ditch-digging for him. He had his own apartment and threw … never-ending parties.
But at the same time, Elvis missed average English-speaking Americans. That’s where the pretty and sweetly innocent Priscilla came in. She fit the bill to a tee. And she was quickly invited over by one of Elvis’ service buddies.
Of course, any parent, even in 1959, would gasp at the wince-worthy possibilities of what could happen to a schoolgirl at a rock star’s party. But amazingly enough, Priscilla came back unscathed. She and Elvis had talked. And that’s it.
She was in love.
For that matter, Elvis seemed to like her a lot, too. This young girl spoke to Elvis in ways that his casual affairs with starlets and sexy fans never could. In fact, with a little time and patience, Elvis was thinking that he could probably mold this pretty gal into his perfect woman.
Problem is, “perfect” only happens in fairytales. And it’s not easy to keep that magic going.
The dialogue is fairly sparce here. But Priscilla and Elvis do care for each other. And though Priscilla is regularly racked with jealousy over her husband’s actions with beautiful costars, she does work to try and hold their marriage together.
Priscilla’s stepfather and mother are very protective of her and watch her early interactions with Elvis very carefully. They voice their love for her.
We see Elvis go rapidly through a number of spiritual phases, reading books about yoga, transcendentalism and the Bible. He teaches a Bible study at one point. And he has a meeting with a personal guru. Elvis has a small statue of Jesus in his bedroom, and we see that …
… Elvis’ faith at that point influences his relationship with Priscilla in a positive manner. He refuses to be intimate with her (other than some heavy kissing) until the two of them are married. “This is very sacred to me,” he tells her.
It’s strongly implied that Elvis does not have similar sexual reservations with any other women. We get the sense that he sleeps with his female costars. And we see him in bed with one woman after he and Priscilla are married. During a Bible study a woman openly flirts with Elvis and he flirts back.
When Priscilla gets jealous over Elvis’ well-publicized affairs with starlets, he confronts her angrily. “I need a woman who understands that things like this are gonna happen,” Elvis tells her. “Are you gonna be her or not?”
Priscilla and Elvis kiss often. After they marry, we see them spending days at a time in bed. Elvis is either shirtless or wearing a shirt with an open front and Priscilla dresses in lingerie, maid outfits and the like. They take posed snapshots together. Some of Priscilla’s outfits show a little skin or sport some cleavage.
Priscilla is seen in the bath once, but the camera angle only reveals her bare shoulder and knee.
It’s implied and lightly brushed over that Priscilla has an affair with her martial arts coach as well. We see them flirting with each other.
Elvis buys pistols for Priscilla, and they shoot together, smashing bottles. She eventually has different colored guns to match each of her outfits.
And though Elvis is often gentle with Priscilla, several times we see his anger flair (generally when she isn’t following expected unspoken rules). We see him hit her roughly with a pillow and throw a chair at her. Once while heavily under the influence of drugs, he grabs and manhandles her.
There are two f-words dropped into the dialogue mix along with multiple uses each of “h—,” “d–n” and “a–.”
God’s name is misused 13 times (11 of those with “d–n.”).
Elvis and his “Memphis Mafia” crew of guy friends romp about (on and off tour) smoking cigarettes and cigars and popping pills on a regular basis. They also imbibe beer and mixed drinks regularly, too. We see other friends drinking beer, wine and champagne and smoking as well. (All of the above takes place throughout the film.)
Elvis introduces Priscilla to a variety of prescription drugs including “pep pills” and sedatives. (There are several bottles of drugs lining their nightstand. They both take the pills.) In fact, the first sleeping pill he gives Priscilla is so strong that she’s knocked out for two days. By the movie’s end we see the staggering impact the accumulated drugs have had on Elvis. Priscilla backs away from them.
Priscilla flies back to the States and moves in with Elvis. And though he and her parents insist that she register for school, she isn’t very focused on it. In the end, she get tests answers by bribing another student with an invite to an Elvis party.
In 1985, Priscilla Presley published a memoir titled: Elvis and Me: The True Story of the Love Between Priscilla Presley and the King of Rock N’ Roll. It became an instant bestseller. Elvis fans couldn’t wait to read the behind-the-scenes story of this musical icon and his beautiful bride.
They wondered what happened: What was it like? Was it true love? How did it all go wrong?
Likely, answers to those questions are what people plunking down the ticket price for Priscilla will be eager to see and hear as well. But while director Sophia Coppola may have stayed true to her source material, it doesn’t make for much of a movie.
The film feels like a series of disjointed, vacuous moments in the couple’s lives. The acting is hollow, the dialogue bland. Priscilla and Elvis are certainly both attractive up on screen, but their interludes feel like a child’s shoebox theater, cast with pretty paper dolls. The characters go through the movements but never muss their paperboard hair.
Of course, they’re also pill-popping, profanity-spewing, R-rated paper dolls. So you probably wouldn’t open that shoebox anywhere near the kids.
After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.
