Movie Review: ‘Maria’ On Netflix December 11th And In Limited Theaters Now

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Review by James Lindorf

Nicknamed ‘La Divina,’ American-born Greek soprano Maria Callas found great success in the world of opera in her early twenties. She would go on to be opera’s most illustrious diva, celebrated predominantly for her bel canto singing, which still has her regarded as one of the greatest opera singers to ever live. Her career was not without controversy, particularly her tumultuous relationships and her struggles with her weight and health. The resulting fascination remains to this day long after her untimely death at the age of 53. That intrigue is why she is the subject of director Pablo Larraín’s third film about influential women of the last 50 years after Jackie Kennedy Onassis and Princess Diana Spencer. With the hopes of at least a few Oscar nominations, Netflix will release the film in limited markets on November 27th before bringing it home to the streaming platform on December 11th.

The Steven Knight (Spencer) screenplay follows Maria Callas (Angelina Jolie) for one week in September of 1977, which would be her last. Caring for her are butler Ferruccio (Pierfrancesco Favino) and housekeeper Bruna (Alba Rohrwacher), who do their best to protect her from overzealous fans and aggressive reporters. However, Maria makes caring for her more difficult because of her dependence on alcohol and Methaqualone, a powerful sedative known for causing hallucinations at high doses. Maria spends her days walking around Paris, working with conductor Jeffery Tate (Stephen Ashfield) to recover her voice, and reminiscing with an imagined news crew led by Mandrax (Kodi Smit-McPhee). Topics of discussion include her marriage to Giovanni Meneghini (Alessandro Bressanello), her affair with Aristotle Onassis (Haluk Bilginer), interactions with John and Jackie Kennedy, and troubled times in her youth (Aggelina Papadopoulou).

“Maria” could have been a standard biopic, but Pablo Larrain’s vision was to immerse the audience in the world of Maria Callas. He wanted viewers to feel what it must have been like for Maria at that point in her life, with her health failing and her dreams coming to an end. This was achieved through the captivating work of cinematographer Ed Lachman (El Conde) and the performances of the cast. The film is a visual feast, reproductions of her grand stage performances, and the otherworldly imaginings of operas coming to life on the streets of Paris. A chorus of men singing against the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower or a horde of children, all clad in red, are easily the most striking visual elements of the film and are high on the list of best images of the year. However, it makes for a movie with standout moments amongst a sea of uniformity.

There has been and will continue to be a lot of praise for Jolie’s performance, which is mostly well deserved. In a prime example of expectations helping or hurting a film, when I heard all about how amazing she was, I expected an emotionally breathtaking performance, and that is not what I got. She is giving a masterclass in somber acting, but there is not enough breadth in this characterization of Maria for me to be blown away. With the exception of a couple of scenes, you only have to ask whether she will be acting as the sad diva or the angry diva. The character has no growth or degradation; the woman on her final day is essentially the one from the opening scene, making for a less-than-thrilling two hours.

When you realize what was asked of Maria by her mother and Onassis, you can’t help but feel bad for her and angry with Knight and Larrain for burying the most interesting parts of the film in a single scene or two. Choosing to instead focus on another attempt at singing, another hallucination, or another browbeating of her loving staff. “Maria” is a visually beautiful and occasionally entertaining film earning a score of 3 out of 5, but Maria deserved better. She deserved a craft team that wanted to share her story with more depth and less focus on their artistic flair.

Rating: R (A Sexual Reference|Some Language)
Genre: Biography, Drama, Music
Original Language: English
Director: Pablo Larraín
Screenwriter: Steven Knight
Distributor: Netflix
Production Co: The Apartment, Fabula, Komplizen Film
Release Date (Theaters): November 27th, 2024, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): December 11th, 2024
Runtime: 2h 3m