‘Maria’ is a visually stunning film that chronicles the final week in the life of Maria Callas, the American-born Greek soprano who dominated the opera world in the 1950s and '60s. Set in her Paris apartment in 1977, the film captures her isolation, her inner turmoil, and fleeting glimpses of the woman behind the legend. Director Pablo Larraín crafts the film with artistry and restraint, letting moments linger and emotions simmer beneath the surface.
While the emotional pulse of the film falters at times—partly due to its slow pace—it still manages to cast a spell. Angelina Jolie steps into the role of Callas with remarkable poise, delivering a performance that should have earned her a deserved Oscar nod. Even though the film sometimes falls short of fully capturing the complexity of Maria’s life, Jolie’s layered portrayal fills many of those narrative gaps.
Echoes of stardom in a quiet apartment
The story begins inside Callas’s Paris apartment, where she lives in near-total seclusion. Her only companions are her loyal housekeeper Bruna and her devoted butler Ferruccio. They attend to her needs, absorb her occasional barbs, and offer quiet affection. Despite her prickly demeanour, Maria clearly treasures them—they are more than staff; they’re her chosen family.
After years away from the stage, she dreams of returning to opera, even though her health is fragile and her dependence on sedatives (especially Mandrax) is growing. Ferruccio urges her to seek medical help, but she brushes it off. Interspersed through these quiet days is an interview with a young filmmaker. Through it, Maria revisits her past: her rise to stardom, her infamous affair with shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis, and the pain of her frustration.
A mood piece, not a biography
Larraín doesn’t follow the standard beats of a biopic. There’s no sweeping arc from childhood to fame to downfall. Instead, he zooms in on a short, intimate slice of Maria’s life, one where she has nothing left to prove. The tone is elegiac, the pacing deliberate. The camera glides through rooms and memories, blending the past and present seamlessly.
The film doesn’t paint Maria as a grand opera diva but rather as a deeply human, wounded woman—still proud, still yearning, and very much alone. Themes of isolation, loss, and unfulfilled longing dominate the narrative, and yet there’s also a quiet resilience. She’s no longer trying to impress the world—just trying to make peace with herself.
Jolie at her finest
The soul of this film is Angelina Jolie. Her transformation into Callas is so convincing, so immersive, that at times it’s tough to separate the actor from the icon. She captures Maria’s fragility, her bitterness, her grace, and her longing—all with startling subtlety. It’s a controlled yet emotionally rich performance that lingers for long. Jolie’s ability to hold the camera, to speak volumes with just her eyes or a turn of her head, is nothing short of masterful. Pierfrancesco Favino and Alba Rohrwacher, as Ferruccio and Bruna, respectively, lend solid support. Their understated performances ground the film and provide the emotional anchor that Maria herself often resists. And throughout it all, Larraín’s direction creates a mood of faded grandeur that suits the film’s operatic roots.
The beautiful and the flawed
But ‘Maria’ isn’t without its missteps. A particularly jarring inclusion in the film is Marilyn Monroe singing “Happy Birthday” to JFK—a scene that feels forced in, perhaps to highlight the shared connection with Onassis. There are also moments that veer too far into surrealism, pulling the viewer out of the story rather than deepening it. The film’s devotion to style sometimes comes at the cost of storytelling. Key aspects of Callas’s life are glossed over. Still, for all its flaws, ‘Maria’ remains a fine film. It’s a film best watched not for its plot, but for the atmosphere it creates—and most of all, for Jolie’s unforgettable performance.
Cast: Angelina Jolie, Pierfrancesco Favino, Alba Rohrwacher, and Haluk Bilginer
Director: Pablo Larraín
Rating: 3.5/5
(‘Maria’ is streaming on Lionsgate Play)
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