Rent Priscilla (2023)

A quite fascinating account... - Priscilla review by TB

I mean, hands up who became acquainted while still at school, romanced with, married, and had a baby with the biggest pop star on the planet?

As long as you don't expect the spectacle of the Elvis movie.. this is a different animal....

I was engrossed with her character - right from the early stages of the romance, her exhilaration was clearly palpable. But I did feel sorry for her (Elvis isn't the most endearing of people), and although she was evidently in love with him, the frustration of her mixed emotions must have been hard to bear.

Good soundtrack, and extra bonus too - no Elvis songs! :)

Painful to watch - Priscilla review by CM

If this really is Priscilla Presley's life and I feel sorry for a this young girl.

To me the marriage seemed like a lonely one and Elvis seem to be very insecure wanting her and then rejecting her.

to me it was an abusive situation.

Too young for a man like Elvis not only that concerns around the amount of pills they were popping.

I mean what the hell was she doing taking tablets on someone that wasn't a doctor or nurse.

Costumes were good, Elvis wanting to control everything even the girls image, big black bouffant hair and wing eyes.

This film doesn't really tell us much about Elvis himself just what lousy husband he was.

When is DVD if you want to but don't expect too much.

A boring film mediocre acting

Interesting Biopic - Priscilla review by GI

This biopic based on Priscilla Presley's autobiography is at times a meandering affair and perhaps deliberately so in trying to represent the boredom and isolation of the central character trapped in a bizarre relationship. Cailee Spaeny is absorbing in the title role as the schoolgirl isolated and lonely on an American airbase in Germany in the late 1950s. At a party she meets the already world famous Elvis Presley (Jacob Elordi) who is serving his time in the military. He takes a fancy to her and a strange, borderline perverted, relationship begins although Presley treats her like a doll and refrains from any sexual connection. Eventually Priscilla is allowed by her military parents to join Elvis at Graceland where this bizarre romance develops while she still attends a local school! She is introduced to drugs and sees little slips of temperament as Elvis occasionally exhibits uncontrollable anger and controlling behaviour. It all spirals towards collapse of course and the film focuses on this young girl's further isolation stuck in a mansion while her lover is on the road and apparently having affairs with famous actresses. This is a story that has a coming of age narrative drive but highlights the immaturity of a naive child obsessed with a handsome and famous man. But one mustn't forget that this is Priscilla's version of events and she also produced the film so some scepticism is required. Elordi as Elvis is downplayed to enable the narrative to be rightly directed at Priscilla and there are no Elvis songs on the soundtrack as these were denied for use in the film. Overall, an interesting story with an excellent central performance from Spaeny and it works as a story of coercion, control and misogyny but it leaves more questions than it answers.