Review: Don't expect to learn much about the title character in 'Priscilla'

"Priscilla" is based on a memoir called "Elvis and Me." Perhaps a better name for the movie would be "Elvis (and Me)."

Turns out that even if you make a movie that's supposedly about the woman Elvis married, it still ends up being all about him. What's especially confusing about "Priscilla" is that it purports to tell Priscilla Presley's story but we learn very little about her. The Sofia Coppola film charts Priscilla's 14-year relationship with Elvis (charismatic Jacob Elordi, from "Euphoria") entirely by referring to what was going on in the singer's career (records, movies, Vegas).

Coppola has long been attracted to poor little rich girl tales, including "Marie Antoinette" and even "Lost in Translation," and that's basically what "Priscilla" is. Cailee Spaeny is intriguing in the title role, mostly because she's so determined to withhold from us. Spaeny and Coppola's script reveal nothing about what makes Priscilla tick, including why she withstands years of abuse and control from Elvis before finally bailing (we know why he was attracted to her — a child of 14, she didn't know yet that she didn't have to do everything the man in her life told her to do. It's called "grooming" these days).

"Priscilla" is almost the exact opposite of last year's "Elvis." Where that movie was chaotic and loud, "Priscilla" is wan and placid. I prefer Coppola's style to Baz Luhrmann's because she, at least, leaves room for us to figure out how we feel about what's happening on screen, but it creates a hole at the center of a movie when one character is a blank and the other is an egocentric, selfish control freak.

As if in silent acknowledgment that her title character is a cipher, Coppola — who's usually so smart about music — chooses obvious, overused songs to do the emotional heavy lifting of the movie, including "Oye Como Va," "Sleep Walk" (which also would be a good title for "Priscilla") and, most egregiously, Dolly Parton's original "I Will Always Love You" for the final scene.

Moving? Of course it is, but that's because Parton is great, not because "Priscilla" is. Coppola's script is filled with "Young and the Restless"-like howlers such as, "If I stay, I'll never leave," that leave her talented, smartly cast actors at sea.

In the end, the main message of "Priscilla," coming so soon on the heels of "Elvis," is that we don't need another movie about this pair for a very long time.

'Priscilla'
** out of 4 stars
Rated: R for violence, drug use, smoking and language.
Where: In theaters Friday.