Elvis from Priscilla's perspective

Four stars.

Writer-director Sofia Coppola's Priscilla provides a counterpoint, in both perspective and tone, to Baz Luhrmann's 2022 Elvis.

The earlier film focused on rock 'n' roll legend Elvis Presley and his relationship with his dubious manager, "Colonel" Tom Parker, with little time given to his wife.

As the title suggests, in Priscilla the focus is on Priscilla Presley, and her relationship with Elvis: Parker is heard from on the phone and talked about, but never seen.

The moods and characters of the films are different, too, reflecting their makers' styles: Elvis is full of Luhrmann's trademark razzle-dazzle and spectacle, while Priscilla is quieter, darker - literally and figuratively - and melancholy. There are some visual flourishes, but not too many: story and people are Coppola's main concerns.

In 1959, 14-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu (Cailee Spaeny) lives with her family on a US military base in Germany. She's lonely and unhappy. At a party, she meets Elvis Presley (Jacob Elordi), who's in the middle of his army service, having been drafted, and he's struck by her.

He tells her he's homesick and misses his mother, who died not belong before. They soon begin dating, though her mother Anna (Dagmara Domiczyk) and stepfather Paul (Ari Cohen), an air force officer, are understandably dubious: he's 10 years older and a huge celebrity.

Nowadays, a 24-year-old man who expresses intense interest in a 14-year-old girl, much less invites her out repeatedly, would perturb if not shock most people. Here, it's slightly bewildering why the Beaulieus didn't stop things: they don't seem starstruck or opportunistic, just impressed by Elvis's manners and vows of pure intentions as well as worn down by Priscilla's stubborness (though her schoolwork suffers as a result of the time she spends with him).

When his service period is up the following year, Elvis returns to the US and his career and an unhappy Priscilla can only follow him through his records and the media, where there's talk of new romance in his life.

That might have been that, but then he starts calling her, eventually inviting her to visit him in Memphis. And things go on from there. Apparently they didn't have sex (in the traditional sense) until they were married, but they did do "other things".

Priscilla soon discovers that there's more to Elvis than the gentleman she knew in Germany, not all of it good - for her, for him, for both of them.

Spaeny is impressive, playing Priscilla from a smitten teenager through to a disillusioned and unhappy mother. Aussie actor Elordi, who made an impact recently in Saltburn, is also very good as Elvis, conveying the star's charm, generosity and sincere piety as well as his moodiness, immaturity and selfishness.T

he film is based on Priscilla Presley's memoir Elvis and Me and Priscilla is an executive producer, so it's not surprising it's very sympathetic to her. Before she died, Elvis and Priscilla's daughter Lisa Marie read the script and called it "shockingly vengeful and contemptuous," and said her father came across as "a predator and manipulative". The finished film isn't quite as extreme as that. It's hard not to see Elvis as something of a predator and manipulator. He's shown as being very controlling of her life, making her stay inside their estate Graceland while he goes off to make films and perform (and carry on with other women). When she's pregnant, he says he wants a separation, then changes his mind shortly afterwards. But Elvis is not by any means portrayed as a pure villain.

Like the recent Maestro, another film about the relationship between a musician (Leonard Bernstein) and his wife (Felicia Montealegre), Priscilla doesn't and couldn't cover everything about the people involved; sometimes the omissions and failures to dig a bit deeper are frustrating. The focus sometimes seems to be a bit narrow. And in both cases, the uninitiated may struggle a bit with the people and events, though this is less of a problem with Priscilla.

This is well worth seeing, but don't expect another Elvis.