My Old Man is a... Just a Bad Man

Graphics by Anika Dua

(A subtle ode to Reese Witherspoon.) Biopics have taken the entertainment industry by storm, producing numerous distorted and sensationalistic takes on real-life stories. 

Referring back to Andrew Dominik’s upsetting fictionalization of Blonde, it is infrequent that we see the true sides of the story. 

But the blaring question here is why have we– as journalists, screenwriters, and directors– made it so difficult for the people we base our works on to have a say in how their story is told? 

Elvis, the biopic about the glamorous life of Elvis Presley and his rise to fame, came out in 2022. The film exhibited a rose-colored filtered take on the true story of a rock star and just barely skimmed the surface of his and Priscilla Presley’s life together. Baz Luhrmann, the director of Elvis, reduced Priscilla to a mere background character. 

We can dive more into the critiques of Elvis, romanticizing the coined classic trope of a privileged man “inspired” by black artistry gaining fame by adopting it, BUT… the most unshakeable mistake this movie made was not acknowledging the predatory relationship between Elvis and Priscilla.

Sofia Coppola takes a new direction in Priscilla, telling the powerful story of this exploitative relationship that is all too familiar: a bright, young girl in love with a powerful and dangerously charismatic man tailing her. Priscilla follows Elvis and Me, Priscilla Beaulieu-Presley’s detailed memoir retelling her side of the “iconic pairing.” This film is unique in that we have Priscilla Beaulieu-Presley as the executive producer, having a principal say in how her story is told through the screen. The film acts less as a biopic and more as both a shocking and revealing depiction of Priscilla as a bird trapped in a cage. Now knowing that Elvis was over 10 years older than the 14-year-old Priscilla when he first started pursuing her, we as the audience see in high definition the real-time grooming of a teenager who is forced to grow up and adjust to a world that is just too big for her.

It is safe to say that Sofia Coppola does it again in Priscilla. The film displays the intricacies of womanhood in a truly haunting but faithful light, as we as the audience see Priscilla take back her adulthood and grow her clipped wings.