This movie is quite the contrast with Baz Luhrman’s ‘Elvis,’ starring Austin Butler and Tom Hanks, and it would make a good follow-up to that movie if you’re doing a movie club where you have the chance to discuss the two.

This is a biopic as well, but about Elvis’ wife, Priscilla. Based on Priscilla’s book “Elvis and Me,” the screenplay was written by director Sofia Coppola. Perhaps best known for directing “Lost in Translation,” it’s interesting that she chose yet another movie about the relationship between a man and a much younger woman.

I was not aware that Priscilla was only 14 when she met the 24-year-old singer in 1959. Their introduction as it is portrayed in the movie would likely be seen today as grooming. All kinds of alarm bells were going off in my head as she is allowed to attend a private party of his unescorted (delivered by a friend of Elvis) and then again when her parents allow her to go to live at Graceland just two years later.

The trivia in the IMDb says that Elvis Presley Enterprises did not endorse this movie and I can see why. He is portrayed as affectionate but controlling. Loving in one scene and cheating on his wife the next. Drugs abound.

All that said, this movie is about Priscilla and her perspective. Its success rests on the shoulders of Cailee Spaeny, and she does an incredible job. The narrative follows her journey from an impressionable 14 year old to the day she left Elvis when she was 28. Her arc is interesting and believable.

My ne complaint about the movie is the pacing. It takes a considerable amount of time to establish itself, almost as though the narrative needed to make sure that it made a case for the inevitable ending. That ending is not rushed, but it seems as though we could have seen less and the movie would have been better for it.

Overall, it’s worth watching. Especially as a companion to ‘Elvis.’ While I don’t think it justifies a theater visit, it’s definitely worth renting or finding on streaming.