Review of Maria, directed by Pablo Larraín

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Maria Callas is a figure I dove into several times in the past. Little people know of her outside of the cultural history scene of the period, although she was involved with figures like Onassis, who would go on to marry Jackie Kennedy after leaving Callas behind. She was born in New York City, like Jackie, but to a Greek immigrant family that was highly dysfunctional.

So when I heard a movie was going to be made about her starring Angelina Jolie, I was curious. I’d quit my film critic job back in April 2024 for another opportunity that ended up falling through, so I was waiting pretty much until the Netflix release of the film. I do miss going to the film festivals, though. They were quite fun.

That said, when the movie came out on Netflix, I watched it the next day. The day it came out I wasn’t feeling well, but the next day, when I’m releasing this post, was just the right time for me.

I don’t want to ramble too much in the introduction and bore you with the semantics, so let’s get into the blog post!

In her decline, opera singer Maria Callas reflects on her life and fame.

This is a movie told out of order, so for the sake of my sanity, I’m going to sort this in chronological order for the summary. There are a lot of flashbacks and dreamy sequences scattered throughout reality in the film, showing how Callas has really declined.

In the present day of the film, Maria Callas is nearing the end of her days. She’s 53 and going to die soon. Although she is an American educated in Greece, she lives in Paris, France, in a fancy apartment where her pill boxes are filled with medications, and occasionally she sits around and sings to herself. We also meet her driver and housekeeper, who seem pretty concerned for her wellbeing.

Her driver, at one point, even informs her that her doctor has called and that she should call him immediately in the morning. Callas died at a fairly young age, and as we learn later in the movie, she has heart failure. Callas’ career was partially ruined because she pushed her health to the brink of failing; she rapidly lost weight to the point where she wasn’t able to sing like she used to.

For now, she just sits in her apartment and listens to old recordings of herself. She says they are too perfect, unlike the performances we see in her flashbacks, but she cranks the volume up, even irritating her neighbors to the point of no return. She’s not a complete recluse though, as she does go outside, and is apparently writing an autobiography.

Throughout the present day sequences, we also meet a young filmmaker that’s trying to make a movie with her. He doesn’t actually exist, but is instead a figment of her reality clinging to what she once was. He interviews her with a camera and microphone as they wander Paris, but when he asks her to sing to a choir and orchestra, is unable to do so.

We move through the past as all of this is unfolding in the present. In black and white scenes, we see how Maria’s mother forced her sister and her to sing for soldiers and men for money inside of their home.

All she knew was how to sing, even as she was brought into a room with men to sing (and it’s implied having sex, although the soldier says that’s for later and asks her to sing first; upon further research, it seems unclear whether this actually happened—I could only find a source from a friend saying it didn’t).

There’s obviously lingering trauma involving her mother in the present day, even as the filmmaker interviews her she mentions how she doesn’t want to go into a Mexican restaurant because of the last time she saw her mother.

We also see Maria’s relationship with Aristotle Onassis, who she calls someone she just sees, even though he calls her his wife. Onassis is famous for going on to marry Jacqueline Kennedy, which leads to an interesting scene where JFK comes to talk to Maria and he mentions Onassis is going on the boat with Jackie and him. Onassis would leave her for Jackie a few years after she gave up her American citizenship.

Maria does say later that her mother forced her to sing, and that Onassis forbade her from singing. I found this to be such a telling statement, as it shows through her wanting to write an autobiography she wants to take back the narrative of her own life. Callas, in real life, was someone the press went after, and she was considered a major diva of her time.

Overall Thoughts

I enjoyed this movie a lot. There are some very striking scenes as we move through past, present, and fiction, showing how Maria Callas was living in this state of being in-between many different things at the time. She was actively dying throughout the movie, as Callas passed at the age of 53, and she was struggling with her life and career.

Jolie plays her with this sorrow, even as she realizes she’s hallucinating. She’s constantly listening to all of her old recordings, in the car, in her home, and imagining herself singing in front of everyone in the present day, even though that never really happens.

The way this movie is filmed is gorgeous too I feel like. It’s dreamy, a bit misty as the filmmaker and Maria wander the autumn streets of Paris. As he brings her to the orchestra, there’s a gorgeous moment where women in kimonos, holding lanterns, converge on the scene. A ruined looking Maria sits on the ground in the middle of them.

I can’t vouch for how accurate this is, but it was an enjoyable experience as a movie. I hope Jolie gets an Oscar nomination for this one. Go watch it if you haven’t already!

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