Is Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla a good movie? Here are first-viewer thoughts on this biopic starring Kaylee Spahn and Jacob Ellord

After three and a half years of On The Rocks live on Apple TV+, Sofia Coppola is back with Priscilla, portraying Elvis Presley’s wife. Inspired by Priscilla Presley’s 1985 memoir, her new feature film is both a true story and a coming-of-age story like her previous works.

Starring Kaylee Spahn – won the actress prize at the recent Venice Film Festival for the role – and Jacob Ellord – also starring in the video premiere of Emerald Fennel in Saltburn – the feature film tells of Priscilla’s encounter with Elvis when she was. He is still a school student. He is already a world star at the age of 24. From their secret romance to their iconic marriage, Sofia Coppola paints a portrait of Priscilla, a self-absorbed teenager who slowly wakes up from her fairytale to take charge of her life.

What do early audiences think of the feature film hitting our theaters this Wednesday, January 3rd? With 264 ratings and 33 viewer reviews at the time of writing, Priscilla has 3.2 out of 5 stars.

For Cinetim: “Sofia Coppola takes the opposite view with Baz Luhrmann’s Priscilla, a biopic about the muse and the hapless wife of the King of Rock and Roll. It’s not the big spectacle or the impressive editing that’s what matters here. The filmmaker is more about the couple’s relationship, but above all how did they become This unknown and minor schoolgirl is one of the most famous women of her time.

But Priscilla is also a melancholy portrait of the era. One where women were much less able to express themselves than they are today. I hated Marie-Antoinette, I loved Priscilla, which is certainly his most successful directorial film. Kyle Spann is excellent against the not-so-incredible but compelling Jakob Ellord. Presley fans won’t like this film, but I find that together with Luhrmann’s film, they make a very good, completely complementary ensemble. A truly beautiful, sunny and moving auteur film.”

Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis Extra

According to the netizen, Sofia Coppola’s feature film is therefore a good complement to Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, which was released in June 2022 and has been nominated for 2023 Oscars in 8 categories. The latter also highlights the performance of the young American actor. Kyle Spahn Already seen in the films Pacific Rim Uprising, Bad Times at El Royale Hotel and The Craft from 2020. The actress was also awarded the Volpe Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival.

The opinion is shared by The Man Without Name, who notes: “Two completely different films that are worth watching for different reasons. Priscilla is a film with a linear plot, quiet direction and a more orderly aesthetic. The film is primarily about immersing ourselves. In Priscilla’s monotonous everyday life, which only Plays the role of a ‘wife’ who has to erase her personality…Sofia Coppola’s direction is very successful. It tells us more than the dialogue (there isn’t much).”

Fabien D. also appreciates the director’s direction and specifies: “Sofia Coppola’s work is always consistent and charming. We can criticize her for always making the same film, but isn’t that the mark of great authors? Priscilla is a story of emancipation. , more complex and A subtler film than it seems, which avoids making Priscilla a mere victim and Elvis a butcher.

Coppola’s superbly stylized direction, the quality of his star couple’s interpretations, not forgetting the soundtrack, one of the usual assets of Coppola’s films, contribute to the charming film, a kind of pop-trip vintage and melancholic, a little tired. , which refers to the filmmaker’s first works, especially Marie-Antoinette. Almost a homecoming for a film that questions the plight of women as powerfully as Sober. Feminine, Golden, and Youth Lost filmmaker Sofia Coppola probably always makes the same movie, but she never misses it.

A movie that’s too sanitized?

For Club AlloCiné’s Sylvain P, while the film is great, it still feels pretty empty. “Sofia Coppola uses the same tools as in Miss Marie-Antoinette: immersing the viewer in an atmosphere of loneliness and madness, luxury and disappointment. Both succeed, especially thanks to the excellent photography and the beauty of the two performers. Also a little hollow, like the life of this poor trophy girl.”

Avoine gives M an average rating and regrets that the film is too clean: “So the picture is refined, the interpretation is excellent, it’s true – all this, Sofia Coppola knows how to do -, but a little daring n” would not have hurt everything. As it is, the film is aseptic.”

Finally, for Mark, it is “an uninteresting adaptation between the star of a love story and a student much younger than him … It is long, indigestible, not to mention the casting: the actor is 1.50 m tall, his partner is 1.96 m. It has nothing to do with reality, this anachronism reinforces the artificiality of the subject , an unimaginable and inconsistent impression. A complete failure of a director that leads us nowhere but boredom. Me Too Eye (see various interviews with Sofia Coppola).

But it is best to form your own opinion. Priscilla is currently in theaters.