Directed By Pablo Larraín; Written By Steven Knight; Starring Angelina Jolie, Pierfrancesco Favino, Alba Rohrwacher, Haluk Bilginer, Stephen Ashfield, Valeria Golino, and Kodi Smit-McPhee.
Maria follows the world’s greatest opera singer, Maria Callas (Angelina Jolie), during her final days in 1970s Paris as she confronts her identity and life. This is the third time Pablo Larraín has taken on a biographical film about a legendary woman. The first two were 2016’s Jackie starring Natalie Portman as Jacqueline Kennedy and 2021’s Spencer starring Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana. I really loved both of those movies, so I was intrigued to check this one out. Previously, I didn’t really have much familiarity with Maria Callas. I recently learned more about her through a conversation I had with Sophia Lambton, who wrote a book published last year titled The Callas Imprint: A Centennial Biography.
Maria follows the world’s greatest opera singer, Maria Callas (Angelina Jolie), during her final days in 1970s Paris as she confronts her identity and life. This is the third time Pablo Larraín has taken on a biographical film about a legendary woman. The first two were 2016’s Jackie starring Natalie Portman as Jacqueline Kennedy and 2021’s Spencer starring Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana. I really loved both of those movies, so I was intrigued to check this one out. Previously, I didn’t really have much familiarity with Maria Callas. I recently learned more about her through a conversation I had with Sophia Lambton, who wrote a book published last year titled The Callas Imprint: A Centennial Biography.
The screenplay is by Steven Knight, who previously worked with Larraín on Spencer. Once again, they approach the story not so much as a biopic, but more as a character study. Similar to Jackie, the main character is interviewed by a fictional journalist, serving as an audience surrogate, throughout the film. This gives us a way into learning about Maria Callas’ past (even if this is supposed to be a more fictionalized depiction). Some sequences have brilliant cutting between the main timeline and flashbacks thanks to editor Sofía Subercaseaux. Ed Lachman provides such elegant cinematography from beginning to end. Everything else looks so stunning from Guy Hendrix Dyas’ production to Massimo Cantini Parrini’s costumes.
For years, I’ve mainly been familiar with Angelina Jolie as a celebrity. I have a lot of respect for her humanitarian efforts. Although as an actress, I haven’t seen much of her films. I really love her Oscar-winning performance in Girl, Interrupted and her Oscar nominated turn in Changeling. Here, she gives some of the very best work I’ve ever seen from her. Everything about her portrayal feels so layered, complex, and haunting. Jolie prepared for the role by spending seven months training to sing opera. Sometimes, she lip-synced to Callas’ original recordings. Other times, her real voice is used. Regardless of what I heard, whenever Maria sings in the film, it feels so emotionally breathtaking.
Maria is my least favorite of Pablo Larraín’s trilogy of biopics about important women of the 20th century. Despite the best efforts of everyone in the supporting cast, their characters don’t really make much of an impact. Although it probably doesn’t matter when Angelina Jolie’s performance is the real reason to be watching this movie. Plus, it also offers a great deal of classic music for the score. I’m not a big listener of that genre, but whenever I hear it, I somehow always feel so energized. Maria is currently available to stream on Netflix.
Rating: 4/5
For years, I’ve mainly been familiar with Angelina Jolie as a celebrity. I have a lot of respect for her humanitarian efforts. Although as an actress, I haven’t seen much of her films. I really love her Oscar-winning performance in Girl, Interrupted and her Oscar nominated turn in Changeling. Here, she gives some of the very best work I’ve ever seen from her. Everything about her portrayal feels so layered, complex, and haunting. Jolie prepared for the role by spending seven months training to sing opera. Sometimes, she lip-synced to Callas’ original recordings. Other times, her real voice is used. Regardless of what I heard, whenever Maria sings in the film, it feels so emotionally breathtaking.
Maria is my least favorite of Pablo Larraín’s trilogy of biopics about important women of the 20th century. Despite the best efforts of everyone in the supporting cast, their characters don’t really make much of an impact. Although it probably doesn’t matter when Angelina Jolie’s performance is the real reason to be watching this movie. Plus, it also offers a great deal of classic music for the score. I’m not a big listener of that genre, but whenever I hear it, I somehow always feel so energized. Maria is currently available to stream on Netflix.
Rating: 4/5