What Priscilla got right about being a woman
By Erin Deborah Waks
I love Sofia Coppola’s films. The Virgin Suicides is one of the few novel adaptations I don’t hate, Marie Antoinette is an incredible portrayal of extravagance – where you aren’t made to despise the female protagonist – and The Bling Ring is an absolute riot. I know I’m not the only one. Her aesthetic is taking over TikTok, her films are a central part of the 21st century canon and her choice of subject matter is defined enough to give her a clear style but sufficiently varied so as not to become stale.
And in her most recent instalment, Priscilla, Coppola grapples with an assortment of themes not for the faint of heart. Sure, the story is not exactly a secret – Elvis and Priscilla’s tumultuous relationship was as much a part of celebrity culture at the time as it is now – but it is certainly brought to cinematic life in this biopic. The material unearthed is complex at first, before becoming entirely problematic, as we start to discover the deeply abusive side of their relationship.
What was also interesting was the film’s observations on female sexuality and desire. The most poignant reflection Cailee Spaeny makes as Priscilla is, undoubtedly, when, confronted with a disinterested Elvis in bed, she finally snaps. After spending years in a sexless relationship, Priscilla tires of being the virginal figure in her lover’s Madonna-Whore complex. The young beauty comes to the realisation that she cannot stand this infantilisation, the innocent purity Elvis ascribes to her against her will. She may be young, but she’s still a woman. She still has needs. And this need, perhaps the most natural of all, is to feel desired, desirable – most of all by the man she loves.
I’m a woman, and I need to feel desired, is the gist of what she shouts at him – well, ‘says marginally louder’ would be a more apt way of describing her minor rebellion. Still, the words reverberate. I couldn’t help but be reminded of an entirely opposing reflection a friend of mine offered recently. She told me nothing turns her on more than when someone is turned on by her. Of course, she was referring to consensual relationships. But I think the same can be said by many women. Feeling desired, feeling someone’s eyes on you, feeling you are the object of someone’s longing, is frankly unparalleled. For me, it’s at the core of what it means to be a woman.
