A film that really isn't about Elvis
The story of how Priscilla, a 14-year-old living with her American m military parents in Germany, met Elvis Presley, how they fell in love, marrying and becoming parents, until their separation.
It was about Priscilla, the often neglected girlfriend and wife, and based on a memoir she herself wrote. It showed the loneliness of her life and the emptiness of not being allowed to do anything. It also strongly suggested (as she claims) that she and Elvis never had full sexual intercourse before they married; her daughter was born nine months after the wedding and after that he didn’t really fancy her. So her sex life with Elvis was virtually non-existent although he had loads of affairs with other women. He obviously adored her but not really in a sexual way. Relationships can be strange like that.
The film itself was more than competent and the acting seemed good. It is a little difficult to make a great film out of the protagonist’s boredom and loneliness. It didn’t help that there were hardly any actual Elvis tracks. Much of their relationship was in the creative lull between his early days of raw rock’n’roll and his later Las Vegas days and perhaps this creative hiatus, when his own stardom was being eclipsed by the Beatles and all they brought to the sixties, was a major cause of their relationship difficulties.
It was about Priscilla, the often neglected girlfriend and wife, and based on a memoir she herself wrote. It showed the loneliness of her life and the emptiness of not being allowed to do anything. It also strongly suggested (as she claims) that she and Elvis never had full sexual intercourse before they married; her daughter was born nine months after the wedding and after that he didn’t really fancy her. So her sex life with Elvis was virtually non-existent although he had loads of affairs with other women. He obviously adored her but not really in a sexual way. Relationships can be strange like that.
The film itself was more than competent and the acting seemed good. It is a little difficult to make a great film out of the protagonist’s boredom and loneliness. It didn’t help that there were hardly any actual Elvis tracks. Much of their relationship was in the creative lull between his early days of raw rock’n’roll and his later Las Vegas days and perhaps this creative hiatus, when his own stardom was being eclipsed by the Beatles and all they brought to the sixties, was a major cause of their relationship difficulties.
Another film about an artist which isn't about the art
There are no Elvis songs in this film.
But it was yet another film about an artist that chronicled the side effects of fame, rather than the artistic process. In that respect Elvis: the Movie was much better. And where were the songs? There were no Elvis songs although there was Guitar Man which Elvis covered. The best songs we heard were Baby I Love You by the Ronettes at the start and the Dolly Parton version of I Will Always Love You at the end. I thought this emphasised that the film was really not about Elvis.
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