Priscilla

The immortal song Personal Jesus by Depeche Mode is dedicated to the immortal (to some extent) Elvis Presley. But not to the singer and icon of millions, but to the husband and ideal of Priscilla, head over heels in love: the autobiographical book "Elvis and I" once pushed Martin Gore to create a hit, and now it has become the basis for the script of a Sofia Coppola film. Biopics in the program of the Venice Film Festival not only prevail, but occupy a tangible niche: "Maestro" by Bradley Cooper tells about the marriage of composer Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre, "Ferrari" by Michael Mann — about the crisis of Scuderia and the strong—willed decisions of Enzo, the comic "Dogman" by Luc Besson is also a kind of biography of an outsider. The fates of women are narrated by the fabulous "Poor Wretches" of Yorgos Lanthimos, but we are talking about a fictional creature - a Frankenstein doll. Sofia Coppola, following Baz Luhrmann, took up the figure of Elvis Presley, poured out of the tears of the fans, but in a much more restrained and sensitive manner, giving the floor to the wife of the King of Rock and Roll, Priscilla, and leaving the Colonel completely behind the scenes.

Before becoming the first lady of Graceland, Priscilla (Kayleigh Spaney) spent a long time trying to determine her place in the King's life. The cherished fantasy of any high school student from the States of the late 50s: Elvis Presley (Jacob Elordi) drew attention to a timid and shy girl at a party - like the plot of a teenage fanfiction with the peering of a favorite band (practically the franchise "After"). A schoolgirl instantly falls in love without looking back at a damn handsome, insanely talented adult man, and he gradually charms the parents of the passion, especially the military father. Even before the prom, Priscilla moves to a kingdom where love, rock'n'roll and pills reign.

Priscilla Presley's book "Elvis and Me" involuntarily resembles Lita Gray's memoir "My Life with Chaplin." Both young girls not only shared a bed and a house with geniuses of a scale too impressive in cultural memory, but both "got" the disparaging brand of Lolita. However, it was the opposite with Gray: Lita became the prototype of the heroine of Vladimir Nabokov's novel — the girl met Charlie Chaplin when she was only 15 years old. Priscilla was awarded a "literary signboard" in the press. But Coppola's film does not look like a series of scenes of violence and a detailed description of sexual deviations: on the contrary, Elvis turns out to be chaste enough to accuse his wife of either striving for carnal pleasures, or lack of spirituality, or banal stupidity. As for the King's celibacy, it's either the literature of mysticism or the side effects of pills.

Coppola, with the politeness of an attentive interlocutor, adheres to the text of the novel, being a guide — Priscilla became one of the producers of the A24 studio tape. "Elvis Manor" not only denied the film recognition or the right to exist, but did not even allow Coppola to use Presley's songs. Paradoxically, hits that have never been heard do not spoil the picture and do not become an annoying compromise for encroaching on an inviolable status. Coppola always works empathically and technically with the musical accompaniment of his paintings, using already written compositions. Either with irony, or with a neat injection, the director puts mostly female vocals behind the scenes (Patti Page, Alicia Bridges, etc.), and inside allows Elvis to refuse to listen to the Beatles by the pool.

But in addition to the King's hits, the film will have to face a much more fierce verification test. After the release of the film, a massive discussion will begin about the veracity of the described events: back in the 80s, after the publication of the novel, Priscilla was tried to sue, but without success. Personal Jesus is a status too inviolable to silently follow the King's outbursts of anger, his indifference and disregard for feelings (of course, mom is to blame for temperament!). Not being experts in the biography of Elvis, in the text we will focus on the truth, not a documentary, but an artistic version of events through the eyes of a loving person