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The King and I
New Zealand Listener
|February 10-16 2024
Sofia Coppola delivers a poignant portrait of the powerless Queen of Graceland.
Priscilla, about the only woman who married the King of Rock'n'Roll, follows 2022's Elvis, which polished his crown to a very bright sparkle. But this journey to Graceland is a much more subdued affair. It's a Sofia Coppola film, after all. She's had a thing for young women in gilded cages before, in the likes of Marie Antoinette, The Beguiled, and The Virgin Suicides.
It may not be about Elvis, but his needs, desires and absences monopolise the whole film. Coppola wants to give voice to his virgin bride, as we watch a young Cailee Spaeny transform from naive, softly spoken 14-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu into annoyed, softly spoken Mrs Elvis Presley, neglected wife of a narcissistic superstar.
This story is from the February 10-16 2024 edition of New Zealand Listener.
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