Priscilla Depicts Elvis Presley As A Monster?

Pulled from the pages of Priscilla Presley’s 1985 memoir, Elvis and Me, the movie will tell the up-and-down love affair between the couple. It’s sketchy, at best, to describe how the pair first started dating as Elvis was stationed abroad in West Germany when he met the newly teenage girl. He fully knew that she was not only ten years his junior but also a child when they started dating and thus begins the film’s darker look into the man behind the hit pop-rock songs. 

In a Rolling Stone review of the film, the outlet reports that at one point, Jacob Elordi’s Elvis even says, “Ninth grade? Why, you’re just a baby!” Despite Priscilla’s age and the field full of red flags, the teen’s parents agreed that the rock star would be able to take her out on dates, with the entire family fully enamored with his stardom.

Eventually, Elvis is honorably discharged from the Army and sent back home with Priscilla remaining in West Germany and troubled by the rumors surrounding her lover’s relationship with Nancy Sinatra and other prominent women in the industry.

When she is finally able to visit her beloved, Priscilla and Elvis go to Las Vegas where he introduces her to a fast lifestyle filled with uppers to keep the party going and downers for when sleep seems impossible. Although their romance is on a fast track, Rolling Stone’s review points out that Elvis turns down sex with Priscilla several times, something that Priscilla even wrote in her memoir. According to Priscilla, the pair waited until their wedding night to be intimate with one another. 

From here, it sounds like things go really downhill for Priscilla as the movie depicts Elvis as a controlling partner. From picking out her clothes (and having her model them in front of his friends) to monitoring who she can and can not talk to, the singer apparently comes off looking like an abusive jerk for the majority of the film. This includes a triggering scene that sees Elvis essentially sexually assault Priscilla while in a hotel room in Las Vegas.

Through today’s lens, the story that’s going to play out in Priscilla will be nothing short of shocking. From the grooming to the psychological and emotional abuse, there’s no doubt that viewers will leave feeling some sort of way about Elvis Presley.

You can watch the drama unfold and make your own decision about the man behind the music and the woman who loved him when Priscilla arrives in theaters on November 3.