Maria: Film review

Venice Film Festival

Genre: drama

Cast Angelina Jolie, Kodi Smit- McPhee

Director: Pablo Larain

Even the kids knew of Elvis and Freddie Mercury. So, that the Elvis movie and Bohemian Rhapsody were huge hits, audiences went to see multiple times, was not a surprise. The nostalgia factor was high for both films and there was the hype of the central performances which added a ‘must see’ element.

What, then, can Maria, about Greek opera superstar Maria Callas expect? Well, almost certainly best actress awards nominations for Angelina Jolie in the titular role. And don’t rule out press and general media coverage beyond the classical music outlets. Maria Callas had a tumultuous life, a paparazzi and tabloid friendly love affair with a flamboyantly wealthy shipping tycoon, great beauty and diva antics that make the likes of Mariah Carey, Barbra Streisand, JLo, et al look like choir girls. Oh, and she also happened to have a voice to make the angels weep.

It’s unfortunate then, that Steven Knight’s script makes it all rather pedestrian. 

As so often happens with films about extraordinary women, the focus is on them at their lowest ebb, with only glimpses of their glory days. Yes, it can make for a more compelling narrative but there is a tendency too, for it to be an attempt to make them more ‘likeable’ and‘sympathetic’. As if a woman at the peak of her success might be too much for audiences to handle.

So, Maria is told from the perspective of an ailing Callas at the end of her life. Her ugly but rich ‘brute’ of a lover, Onassis is dead, having, in any event, dumped her for JFK’s widow Jackie Kennedy ( their marriage being something Callas found out about in a newspaper). She is suffering hallucinations and unbeknown to her, (at first) her major organs are failing. Crucially, she hasn’t performed on stage for years and refuses to listen to her own records. Her voice is no longer that of ‘La Callas’ and she makes secret visits to an empty theatre to try to coax it back to its former glory. She is plagued by memories of her mother who ‘ruined everything’, told the young Maria she was fat and unlovable and sold her and Maria’s sister to soldiers in Nazi occupied Athens.

Nevertheless, she remains imperious, glamorous and unyielding. Her closest relationships are with her long suffering but loyal housemaid Bruna (Alba Rohrwacher) and butler Ferrucio (Pierfrancesco Favino).They live together in a grand apartment in Paris where Madam Callas amuses herself by regularly demanding the grand piano be moved from beneath one window to another and popping pills instead of eating. She goes to restaurants and cafes to be adored. “ I’m in the mood for adulation,” she declares before one visit. 

She decides to write her autobiography, something akin, she says, to what might be called The Human Song, but never puts pen to paper. Instead, she answers questions to a young journalist/documentarian (Kodie Smit-McPhee) who only she can see. She tells him ‘important truths’ and that the best music is born out of misery. “Happiness never produced a beautiful melody.”

The spoken autobiography is a device to go back over her life.

And that’s where the film and Angelina are at their best. The flashbacks are in black and white and largely centre around her barbed back and forths with Onassis when he first woos and ultimately wins her.

While he loves her, Onassis hates opera and ensures Maria puts her career second to him. The controlling, volatile aspects of their relationship are glossed over in favour of romanticised scenes of them dancing and relaxing on yachts and hanging out with the Kennedys and Marilyn Monroe. (Marilyn, incidentally, is played by Suzy Kennedy, a British lookalike who I personally know). The film assumes the audience knows Maria Callas’ personal and professional story, so the exposition is limited which is good for those who do know of her life but less so for those new to it.

In the flashbacks of her career highlights, Jolie is magnificent, like a ravishing painting brought to life. In the closeups she sings like she feels the music and is a luminous, captivating presence that fills the screen. By contrast, as the older Maria, her constantly pursed lips and aloof manner feels, at times, a little too much like ‘acting’. It doesn’t help that Jolie looks nothing like Callas and while watching her, you never forget it’s Angelina Jolie on screen.

However, she is never not fiercely watchable. The film has to stand or fall with her performance and she shines. Her voice was mixed with that of Callas for the songs.

The cinematography is gorgeous. The shot formations exquisite, individual scenes are, like Jolie, paintings brought to vivid life. The soundtrack sublime. The big scene at the end is perfect and brings real emotion to the fore, something I’ve never experienced with a Pablo Larain film before. He deserves awards recognition too and may well earn some nominations. 

Maria is the type of film that needs awards acclaim to reach a big audience. It deserves both.

4/5