A Reaction to A24 and Sofia Coppola’s ‘Priscilla’

I’ve been hearing mixed reactions about a few of the big American titles at Venice, including “Ferrari,” “Maestro” and “Priscilla.” Whatever I was granted permission to publish, I already have, but here’s one from Reddit.

Someone saw Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla,” which I was told to not get my hopes too high for, and the reaction is utter disappointment:

I saw Priscilla from Sofia Coppola. This is NOT going to be an Oscar contender. I thought the film was just fine (disappointing by itself because I'm such a huge Sofia fan) […] I think this could even score below a 6.0 on IMDB

I don’t want to go into spoilers but in general, I found the film to be a little more surface-level than I was hoping for. It’s not a bad film. I think it’s fine, just below Sofia’s high standards. The reason I think it will be divisive with awards is because it reminded me a bit of “Spencer,” but a little more off-putting. It’s very distant with long stretches of no dialogue and there’s no real “moments of catharsis” Spaeny is very good and the best thing about it [..] Elordi isn’t very good in my opinion and is giving what I found to be a pretty one note performance.

“Priscilla” is Coppola’s eighth feature, her notable past works include “Lost in Translation,” “The Virgin Suicides,” “Marie Antoinette” and “Somewhere.” Her last film was 2020’s “On the Rocks,” which was released during the thick of the pandemic.

Coppola described “Priscilla” as “Marie Antoinette in Graceland.” The film is based on the memoir “Elvis and Me,” by Priscilla Presley. It stars Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi as Priscilla and Elvis.

A24 will distribute “Priscilla”. Coppola is reteaming with her longtime collaborators, including cinematographer Philippe Le Sourd, and editor Sarah Flack.

Priscilla is set to premiere at the 80th Venice International Film Festival on September 4, 2023. It will also screen as the Centerpiece Selection of the 2023 New York Film Festival on October 6. It will finally be released in the United States on October 27th.