PRISCILLA (2023): Sofia Coppola’s New Movie Looks Oscar-Bound with an Early 97% Rotten Tomatoes Score

Priscilla Looks to Be Sofia Coppola’s Ticket Back to the Oscars

Priscilla, directed by Sofia Coppola, has premiered at the Venice Film Festival and is currently holding a 97% Rotten Tomatoes score suggesting its Oscar prospects are strong.

It’s been about twenty years since Sofia Coppola won her Oscar for writing Lost in Translation. Based on recent reviews, it seems her subtle emotions are coming back to life in her new film, Priscilla, which is about the life of Priscilla Presley. It is also noteworthy that Priscilla, herself, was at a screening of the film and she had quite an emotional response to the picture.

How good was the reception of Priscilla by critics at Venice? There was a seven-minute standing ovation for the movie plus the film stands so high on Rotten Tomatoes that it seems reviewers are really adoring Coppola’s quiet intensity which is seemingly back in full force in Priscilla. You may remember the priceless emotion found in Lost in Translation. It seems Coppola has returned to top form.

Jacob Elordi and Cailee Spaeny star in the film as lovers, Elvis and Priscilla, who met when he was ten years her senior but nevertheless, it was still quite early in their lives. Priscilla’s memoir, Elvis and Me, is the source material for the picture. Rolling Stone highly praised the movie and gave the director enough accolades to believe this is certainly one of Coppola’s very best films.

Vanity Fair stated the new movie was a bit slight but that’s what Coppola does best. She’s not looking to reinvent the wheel with her films, she’s more interested in what drives people and the choices they make in their lives. All of her films are subtle and some work better than others. But, given this material, Coppola is in her suited environment as this story lends itself to great emotional complexity while also being a tad bit simplistic, just like life itself. BBC thought the new film was “quietly effective.” No two other words can best describe what Coppola does best when she’s at the top of her game.

It will be interesting to see if Cailee Spaeny gets into the Best Actress race. Her co-star Jacob Elordi could get snubbed, though, making it quite interesting after Austin Butler almost walked away with the Oscar last year for playing the “King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.” If Spaeny gets nominated, it will do justice to the great way Coppola creates female characters like she has done in many of her movies throughout the years. Priscilla is going to be released by A24 on October 27, almost around the time period A24 released Aftersun last year which led to Paul Mescal’s first Academy Award nomination. Spaeny may just hear her name called as a Best Actress nominee for the formidable, delicate film that Priscilla seems to be.

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