Angelina Jolie stuns as Maria Callas in Maria but ultimately the script lets the film down

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It was a somewhat surprising choice to cast Angelina Jolie in the role of US born, Greek opera singer Maria Callas in Chilean director Pablo Larrain’s Maria. We assume it was for her star power that the American actress was chosen rather than one of Greek background. However, apart from the unconvincing singing scenes (it was clear Jolie was lip syncing which was quite jarring), Jolie handled the role with grace and conviction.

Director of photography, Edward Lachman’s cinematography in Maria is quite simply beautiful and we can appreciate why the film is nominated for the Best Cinematography at the Academy Awards, which will be announced in a fortnight. From the opening scenes immersing us in Callas’ Paris apartment to the interchanging grainy footage for some of the memory scenes, it captivated us. The slow pan from the bedroom of the famed singer out into her living room on the morning of her death allowed us to slowly step into Callas’ world and to feel the grief of her fiercely loyal, and protective servants who have become friends, Ferruccio (played by Pierfrancesco Favino, who is in The Count of Monte-Cristo which is coming to this year’s Alliance Française French Film Festival) and Bruna (played by Alba Rohrwacher who will be familiar to French cinephiles – she was in Out of season from last year’s Alliance Française French Film Festival.)

Set in the last week of her life in 1977, Callas’ story is told through a series of flashbacks as she reflects on the entirety of her life, when heavily under the influence of the drug Mandrax. She believes she is meeting with journalists who want to write about her, even though she has long been out of the spotlight. The young journalist that she believes she is being interviewed by is actually named Mandrax in the credits. These hallucinations are so lifelike that at times there is little to let the viewer know that what is happening isn’t real. We see them through the eyes of Maria, which makes perfect sense for a memoir flashback style of film.

I went into the film knowing little about Callas and preferred to see what the film would tell me and read more afterwards to determine how accurate the film was, and also if there were any significant gaps in the story. Of course, being told through the eyes of Maria herself, as she thinks she is writing a book and being interviewed by journalists, means that the story tells us what Maria herself wants to tell. It can be free of certain controversies and as glowing as she would want it to be.

Maria’s long-term partner Aristotle Onassis is played convincingly by Turkish actor Haluk Bilginer. We briefly see Maria relive the pain of him forcing her not to sing, and his infidelity when he started seeing Jackie Kennedy, who he ultimately married after JFK’s assassination. Maria was of course married to Giovanni Battista Meneghini at the time that she began her affair with Onassis. Onassis himself was also married at the time.

Maria Callas and Aristotle Onassis in Maria

It was a pleasant surprise to see French actor Vincent Macaigne (who played the titular role in Bonnard, Pierre and Marthe, which was at the Alliance Française French Film Festival 2024) in the smaller role of Doctor Fontainebleau, who Ferruccio calls to come, and Maria denies she needs to see.

Several biographies have been written about Callas, one of which (Cast a Diva: The Hidden Life of Maria Callas by Lyndsy Spence) was researched using Callas’ own unpublished correspondence. Several of the key players in her life have also written their own biographies in which they talk about their relationships and interactions with Callas. The Maria Callas Foundation in Paris which holds much of her correspondence and several of her artefacts would prove to be a fountain of valuable knowledge for anyone researching Callas.

Unfortunately, though, the script is what really lets the film down. At times rather than feeling like a well thought out script, it felt like writer Steven Knight had a list of Callas quotes and somehow wanted to make them all fit in. This led to moments where the conversations, or even monologues, didn’t flow.

Perhaps it was authenticity that was being sought as it was throughout other areas of the production. Production Designer Guy Hendrix Dyas reconstructed much of Maria Callas’ 36 Avenue Georges Mendel intricately detailed, wooden panelled apartment after visiting and sketching the real thing. The boat on which the early romance scenes between Callas and Onassis are shot is actually the Christina O, converted back to its original 1956 livery. The route filmed is the actual route they sailed upon.

Ultimately, Maria could be a 5 croissant film if only the script had been less clunky. Angelina Jolie excels in the role, except when she is singing (which fortunately doesn’t happen often in the film). The cinematography, décor, costumes and a desire to know more about Callas kept us engaged. A film to watch if you’re a lover of Callas, opera, Angelina Jolie and beautiful cinematography and decors.