MARIA (2024)

Genre: Biography/Drama
Director: Pablo Larraín
Cast: Angelina Jolie, Pierfrancesco Favino, Alba Rohrwacher, Haluk Bilginer, Valeria Golino, Caspar Phillipson, Vincent Macaigne, Kodi Smit-McPhee
Runtime: 2 hrs 3 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Drug References and Coarse Language)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 20 February 2025

Synopsis: Academy Award®-winner Angelina Jolie is Maria Callas, one of the most iconic performers of the 20th century in acclaimed director Pablo Larrain's operatic MARIA. The film follows the American-Greek soprano as she retreats to Paris after a glamorous and tumultuous life in the public eye. MARIA reimagines the legendary soprano in her final days as the diva reckons with her identity and life.

Movie Review:

Unlike pop or rock music, opera music certainly is not for everyone. For the third film of Pablo Larraín's trilogy of important 20th-century women, Pablo shifts his focus to opera singer Maria Callas, a renowned influential American and Greek soparano. If the name doesn’t ring a bell for you, it’s obvious you are not a fan of opera music.

The story of Maria is set in the last days of Callas. The morbid opening scene already tell you so. Depressing? bleak? Yes I know. It’s never easy watching Pablo’s historical dramas because it’s indeed depressing. Jackie is set a week after JFK assassination while Spencer is about Princess Diana's existential crisis. Pablo sure needs to take a break with all his soul crushing biographies.

We are sure Maria Callas is a gorgeous, wonderful soparano but we won’t see it here in Pablo’s version. Scripted by Steven Knight (Spencer, Peaky Blinders), as the movie opens, we learned that Callas is highly dependent on Mandrax and other prescription drugs. Her health is on the decline, she has lost her voice and the only companions she has in her life right now is her faithful butler, Ferruccio (Pierfrancesco Favino), and housekeeper, Bruna (Alba Rohrwacher). They are worried about Callas’ well-being but she has plans of her own.

She walks around the city with an imaginary filmmaker dubbed Mandrax (Kodi Smit-McPhee) and reminisces about her past liked her toxic relationship with Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis, her tortured childhood with her overbearing, exploitive mother, her struggle to return to the stage and an intimate meet-up with her elder sister.

It’s a huge pity we only see a fraction of Callas’ life in this two hour long biopic. How much of her dreams and hallucinations are real and fictional? We can’t really tell in the end. There’s an abrupt scene of Callas having breakfast with JFK that feels strangely detached from all the happenings. Still, the most enjoyable scenes are watching Callas having candid, funny conversations with Ferruccio and her insistence to constantly move the piano from room to room.

Maria is a slow-moving drama. Tender might be a better word but we digress. The flashbacks are shot in black and white. Ironically, these are the times whereby audiences see Callas at the peak of her life. The present days however are shot so aesthetically by Edward Lachman that it look like a piece of moving oil painting.

Angelina Jolie puts up a solid, convincing performance as Maria Callas. We heard she even go to the extend of singing and performing all the songs with the help of modern audio technology. Too bad she didn’t make it to the Oscar best actress category. For a story of a diva that never receives the love and adoration she deserves in the end, Maria feels unsatisfying and experimental. Sure, there are moments of brilliance but mostly it’s just Jolie putting in all the hard work.

Movie Rating:

(Angelina Jolie is the reason why this somber biopic deserves to be watch)

Review by Linus Tee