In 1959, at the age of fourteen, Priscilla Beaulieu (Cailee Spaeny) is introduced to a then twenty-four year old Elvis Presley (Jacob Elordi). From teenage fan, through obsessive teen romance, live in girlfriend, wife and mother Priscilla tells the story of her fourteen year romantic life with the King of Rock and Roll. 

Pulling no punches the film paints Elvis as a monster. Essentially grooming a teenager, giving her prescription drugs, controlling what she can and can not do, making her dress and look how he wants, being abusive towards her and cheating on her whilst telling her that she should expect it. Priscilla is a young woman infatuated with the biggest star in the world whilst trapped in a gilded cage. 

Cailee Spaeny is exceptional throughout. She captures three key phases and looks across the film. The vulnerable star struck teenager, the glamorous girlfriend/wife in the public eye and the independent young woman who starts to find her own life at the end of the relationship. Whilst the most striking moments of the film are oddly when she finds herself alone in Graceland and walking around vast plushly furnished rooms. She seems small and alone in the world. 

Jacob Elordi is also brilliant. His performance is as magnetic as you would expect from someone portraying Elvis. He is manipulative and unpredictable but you cannot keep your eyes off him. 

Based on the 1985 memoir “Elvis and Me” written by Priscilla Presley and with her as the film’s executive producer this film goes a long way to represent her telling of events. Whilst the film being written and directed by Sophia Coppola it squarely fits inside her oeuvre of “sad young girl coming of age (The Virgin Suicides, Lost In Translation, Marie Antoinette, Somewhere)”. Coppola excels at getting into the mind of young women trying to find their way in the world and this is no exception. 

It can at times be tough to watch due to its content and it is also a slow burn. It feels like a dream that slowly but surely sours into a nightmare. But when “Gassenhauer” by Erik Charlston plays as the two become engaged, a piece of music made famous by the films Badlands and True Romance, you understand this is truly a doomed romance. 

A difficult but compelling watch.