Opening Image

We get a taste of Priscilla’s life as it is right now, surrounded by wealth and luxuries, records and fan letters, but it all belongs to Elvis Presley. Despite having everything, she still has nothing to call her own, and she doesn’t see it yet. This is further stressed upon by the songs played, which starts with ‘Going Home’ by Alice Coltrane, which as the title implies is about going back to where you belong, which quickly transitions to ‘Baby, I Love You’ by Ramones, about being hopelessly in love.

Theme

At a military base in Germany, Priscilla is approached by a stranger who invites her to a party that Elvis will be attending.

Set Up

Not taking no for an answer, the stranger, Terry, approaches her family and asks her father’s permission directly, as Priscilla herself is far too timid.

At the party, Elvis finds out that she’s only in the 9th grade. Meanwhile, Elvis is everything she imagined him to be and finds herself thinking about him all day at school.

Catalyst

Having gone back to her normal life, she receives a call from Terry, who tells her Elvis has asked to see her again. She once again responds that her parents won’t let her go but he assures her that he’ll convince them. This is carried over in the plot as we see Priscilla constantly having her choices being made for her and she gets her own voice drowned out over and over.

Debate

At the party, Elvis tells her that he misses home and his mother, additionally, as his father is turning into someone he no longer recognizes, he craves a sense or normalcy, which he finds in Priscilla. As they kiss, the song played is ‘Crimson and Clover’ by Tommy James and the Shondells which is about love blossoming

We see how her relationship begins taking a toll on her life as she starts dozing off at school, it also affects her relationship with her parents as we see her standing up to the them for the first time to defend Elvis.

Elvis convinces her parents that he has her best interests at heart and receive her father’s permission to continue seeing her

Break into Two

Priscilla and Elvis start going out.

B Story

After watching a movie together, Elvis tells her that he wants to make movies that are taken seriously, but more often than not his creative choices are taken from him by people who see him as an asset rather than an artist. And so, out of helplessness, he responds by letting his anger out on Priscilla, the one person in his life that isn’t tied to his career. Also by grooming her from a young age, he can manipulate her as he sees fit, starting by giving her drugs.

Fun and Games

As they spend more time together, they begin to fall in love. We see Elvis gift her a watch, subtly implying that he’s in control of her time and how she spends it. Furthermore, as Elvis is always forced to leave Priscilla behind for work, he gives her explicit details on how to contact him when they’re apart.

But despite being apart, he’s always on her mind, leading to her interest in studies to dwindle. It also doesn’t help that she sees his face on every magazine, wherein he’s always romantically tied to Nancy Sinatra. When they do get in touch again, he tells her that he’ll arrange for her to see him without discussing it with her first.

When in bed, Priscilla tries to initiate sex but Elvis insists that they wait and is seen giving her drugs again, resulting in her passing out for two days. When she finally comes to, he tells her he’s taking her to Vegas like nothing happened. When it’s time to go back home, she reluctantly agrees and her parents don’t recognize her when he arrives at the airport.

She begins to seem more and more uninterested in her old life so Elvis offers to have her move in with him and his family at his mansion. Upon arriving, she and her father are greeted by Elvis’ family who promise a safe environment for her, but the man who planned it all is nowhere to be found. The entire mansion, from the records on the wall to the carpet on the floor, screams Elvis as Priscilla struggles to fit in. Furthermore, her new school being run by nuns offers an environment just as controlled as her new home.

Later, while on call with Priscilla, we hear Elvis argue with someone about creative control on a film he’s working on. He then proceeds to tell her to not get a job as he needs her around if and when he calls. When he does come back home, we see her struggle to be a part of the conversation at the dinner table.

We see him refuse to have sex with her again, paying no heed to her feelings and later, when she’s out trying on new dresses, he tells her how to change her appearance to his liking and what colors she can and cannot wear. Interestingly, he does mention that he doesn’t like brown as it reminds him of his time in the army, most likely since he was forced to serve against his will.

Priscilla starts becoming addicted to drugs and to spoil her further Elvis is seen gifting her several handguns.

Midpoint

We see Elvis negatively comment on a dress Priscilla is wearing the second he wakes up and when she snaps at him he just laughs it off, seeing nothing wrong with what he just did.

Elvis’ bad influence begins to further take effect as Priscilla lies to her parents about doing well in school only to later trade exam papers with a student in exchange for inviting her to one of Elvis’ parties, despite being told not to bring anyone to the mansion.

While these signs do seem like Priscilla is getting worse by the day, it also shows her taking charge of her life for the first time, albeit for the wrong reasons, telling us that there may yet be hope for her to break free. She even tells Elvis to not attend her graduation as it would unnecessarily divert attention to him, to which he agrees.

Bad Guys Close In

While in bed, Elvis is seen telling his people that he will not be taking any calls unless it’s from his father or the colonel, telling us that while he controls Priscilla, they control him. Also while play fighting, he gets aggressive for no reason due to how fragile his masculinity has become. The next day we see him demolish an old house on his property just to prove he can as he struggles to retain control over his life. Soon the total authority Elvis’ father and his step mother have on him begins to extend over to Priscilla as well as they begin to dictate orders to her.

New rumors start spreading about Elvis being romantically involved with Ann Margaret, but he shrugs it off, saying she’s more focused on her career and isn’t submissive like he needs a woman to be, he then proceeds to again complain about losing creative control on his new project. Later on, Ann lies about being engaged to Elvis and his feeble attempt to contain the situation is by asking Priscilla to leave for a while, without caring about the effect all of this is having on her.

Things appear to get better for them for a while, but one day Priscilla finds a love letter in his pocket and when she confronts him about it, he’s already agitated about things not going his way and accuses her of being aggressive and demanding and forces her to pack and leave. Things keep going back and forth like things over and over, as Elvis feels like no one understands him while at the same time keeping Priscilla at arms length, only to then temporarily patch things up with her.

Eventually, Elvis becomes preoccupied with spiritualism in a desperate attempt to regain some sense of control over his life, whilst feeding his ego to make him feel superior to others. When Priscilla tells him he’s becoming obsessed, he ignores her, but when the colonel tells him to drop it, he takes things a step further by burning all the books.

All is Lost

Priscilla’s hope for freedom fades as Elvis proposes to her, making her feel trapped in the relationship. Her worries increase when she becomes pregnant, realizing that they haven’t made any progress in their own relationship. Although Elvis seems to support her decision on whether to have an abortion or not, he quickly makes up her mind for her, giving her no choice but to have his baby.

Dark Night of the Soul

One day, Elvis suggests that they take some time apart for no apparent reason and paying no regard to her condition. Priscilla angrily agrees and walks away even when Elvis tells her he didn’t mean it. Though it’s an extension of her low point, this could be her chance out of the ordeal. Furthermore, Elvis is later seen playing ball with his friends, without a care in the world.

Break into Three

However, things seem to have once again been patched up between them, as she tells him the baby’s coming. Despite the urgency, Priscilla is seen applying makeup as per Elvis’ strict instructions.

Finale

Having given birth to their daughter, Priscilla once again tries to initiate sex but Elvis refuses. Meanwhile, his career keeps reaching new heights as she’s left home alone time and time again. While taking family photos, he poses with his signature cane and sunglasses, while she kneels beside him to show just how patronizing he is, but she’s had enough and walks away before the shoot could end

Priscilla chooses to take her daughter and leave for LA for a while, and Elvis seems uninterested in her decision. For the first time in a long time, she seems to be enjoying herself as she learns self-defense and appears to be smitten with her instructor. Meanwhile, back in Vegas, Elvis just gets worse and worse. While he performs, the shot remains behind him, away from the lights and in the dark, making it understood that this is the Elvis very few know about, the real him. Whereas from the fans’ point of view, in the light, all they see is the charismatic and immaculate version known to the world.

Priscilla is even seen having her own social circle, tying back to the beginning where she was timid and withdrawn and told her mother she doesn’t want new friends, while at the same time possibly having none. Elvis tries to force himself on her, again tying back to the beginning when he invited her upstairs for the first time and promised her he wouldn’t do anything inappropriate.

The next day when she tells him she’s getting a divorce, he responds by saying she has everything a woman could ever want, which is true, but she doesn’t have a loving husband. Even after all she’s endured, she still finds it hard to walk away for she truly loved him, while Elvis remains indifferent, not realizing he just lost the one person who cared about him.

Closing Image

During the final moments, the song ‘I Will Always Love You’ by Dolly Parton is played, a song about a woman choosing to leave her love regardless of how it breaks her heart for she knows it’s for the best. We once again see shots of the interior of the mansion and all the wealth in the world that most can only dream about, but despite it all, Priscilla drives away from it all, free at last.