In light of Baz Luhrman’s 2022 expose of Elvis Presley, how would an adaptation of Priscilla Presley’s 1985 memoir, Elvis and Me (written with Sandra Harmon) look on the silver screen? If you’re to take the reaction from the crowds that saw Priscilla at Venice, New York, and Vancouver, Coppola’s adaptation and stars Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi’s performances would be the talk of the town.

Priscilla, is that not that film.

Coppola does provide the audience with Priscilla Presley’s vantage point from being an Army child, where her parents were stationed in Germany, through their courtship, and the isolated life she lived. At the same time, Elvis partied and came home from his tours and filmmaking journeys to a wife who didn’t know how to react to the fame. Priscilla’s reactions were subtle, keeping within Coppola’s style of writing and directing.

However, the subtlety draws far more attention to the movements on the screen and amplifies the isolation Priscilla felt as a character. Cailee Spaeny’s (On the Basis of Sex, Vice, ‘Mare of Easttown’) performance is so subtle, so as not to upset Elvis when he’d come home on a bender, that you ultimately feel horrible that someone would endure so much pain out of love; that the film struggles with the emotional endurance are so subtle, it was painful to watch Priscilla. This isn’t meant to dismiss the creative output of either the actress or the writer-director. However, it was not effective in conveying the realities that were potentially expressed in the memoir.

With Priscilla being told from her vantage point, Elvis as a character was far less critical but even more pivotal to the story. Jacob Elordi, who also stars in Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn, is bound to be compared to the showy version from Luhrman’s film. Elordi is understated in his courtship and demands in his affairs with Priscilla that they both become isolated from one another and themselves – they cannot discern between fantasy and reality.

That discernment would, or instead should, elicit some kind of outburst on the part of Priscilla. Where she was rebellious with her parents, she had to contain those emotions with Elvis. The story doesn’t make it clear why this version of Priscilla folded in on herself other than to say she simply did not understand the ground rules of fame mixed with the unknown.

Because of the age difference when they got married, Priscilla respects her innocence unexpectedly, something that Spaeny and Coppola tap into successfully. Coppola has been quoted as comparing her adaptation of Priscilla Presley to Marie Antoinette, and the connection between the two real-world figures couldn’t be further from the truth. If anything, Elvis is portrayed as far more profligate and promiscuous, while Priscilla is left at home to finish her studies. Her celebrity status would draw the attention of her classmates, something Priscilla was unable to adapt to.

That is until we get to the third act, where Priscilla questions Elvis’ integrity. Spaeny does excel in this aspect, and the movie starts to come more alive. However, Coppola’s insistence on subtlety makes the character’s outbursts far less impactful than if Priscilla had engendered her more rebellious side.

Ultimately, Priscilla suffers from Coppola’s subtle style of filmmaking, respecting the characters as developed in the script, leaving out the far more scandalous events in their private lives for an audience that wouldn’t be willing to endure the toxic nature of their relationship. This review is not advocating for those more scandalous events. Instead, without some emotion beyond isolation, the result is a subtle take that loses the gravity of its intended context and subtext.