Pablo Larrain’s 2024 film about opera singer Maria Callas is now streaming on the OTT platform Lionsgate Play.
Larrain’s trilogy featuring notable yet troubled women from the 20th century reaches its conclusion with Maria. This biopic, like its predecessors Jackie, focusing on Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and Spencer, centered on Princess Diana, delves into a pivotal time in the life of its protagonist.
Set during the week before Maria’s death in 1977, the movie portrays her life in a lavish Paris apartment. Unfortunately, her renowned voice has nearly abandoned her, and she is grappling with a troubling dependence on the sedative Mandrax.
Despite her circumstances, Maria (played by Angelina Jolie) maintains her diva persona, dismissively rebuffing the worries of her butler Ferruccio (Pierfrancesco Favino) and housemaid Bruna (Alba Rohrwacher). When Ferruccio inquires about her morning intake, she simply replies, “Liberties.”
The screenplay by Steven Knight is appropriately theatrical, reflecting the dramatic nature of its protagonist. Maria is brimming with sharp retorts, stating, “I am perfectly happy with the theatre behind my eyes,” during a conversation with Bruna.
Maria’s tenuous grip on reality is highlighted in her interactions with a television journalist also named Mandrax (Kodi Smit-McPhee), as she strives to regain her vocal prowess under the guidance of conductor Jeffrey Tate (Stephen Ashfield).
Similar to Jackie (2016) and Spencer (2021), the film portrays its lead character through a lens of emotional depth rather than intellectual analysis and embraces subjectivity over detachment. The 124-minute runtime features Maria reflecting on her relationships with shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis (Haluk Bilginer) and her sister Yakinthi (Valeria Golino).
While Larrain aims for the film to present itself as the autobiography that the singer never penned, the narrative perspective is notably his own. There are echoes of Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard (1950) in Larrain’s depiction of Maria as a self-imprisoned figure, wrestling with madness while professing control over her legacy.
Unlike the titular characters of Jackie and Spencer, Maria maintains dignity amid her emotional outbursts and manages her environment, even if subtly. Angelina Jolie serves as the film’s greatest asset.
Jolie skillfully captures Maria Callas’s self-assuredness and arrogance despite lacking a strong physical resemblance. She utilizes her vocal performance as much as her physical presence, imbuing Maria with a unique speech pattern and body language.
Ultimately, the film seems crafted to give Jolie an exceptional platform to showcase her acting abilities. In this regard, Maria strikes all the right chords.
