‘Maria’ Review: Angelina Jolie Sings, But the Maria Callas Biopic Fails to Take Flight

Angelina Jolie deserves credit for her steady performance as Maria Callas in the biopic Maria, even though the film doesn’t fully capture the essence of the opera legend.

Maria (★★½ out of four; rated R; now streaming on Netflix) is the final installment in director Pablo Larraín’s trilogy about iconic women burdened by their pasts. While his previous, more successful films – Jackie and Spencer – delved into horror-inspired tragic narratives, this film focuses on Callas in her final days, reflecting on her life for a TV interview and grappling with the ghosts of past roles, along with the fading remnants of her once-glorious voice. While the film is filled with overwhelming style, it lacks in narrative depth. However, Jolie, who received a Golden Globe nomination for her portrayal, immerses herself fully in the role, both emotionally and musically.

Maria centers on the final week of the American Greek soprano’s life in 1977, set in her lavish Parisian apartment long after her public retirement. At 53, she still embodies the diva persona, singing while her housekeeper, Bruna (Alba Rohrwacher), makes an omelet, and commanding her butler, Ferruccio (Pierfrancesco Favino), to move a massive piano despite his bad back. However, Maria’s life is chaotic. Ailing and in poor health, her diet mainly consists of prescription pills. She speaks of nightly visits from her wealthy, late lover, the “ugly and dead” Aristotle Onassis (Haluk Bilginer). At times, she embodies the iconic La Callas, but at others, she’s simply Maria. Sometimes she isolates herself from the world, while at other times, she craves the adoration of being recognized at a restaurant, saying, “I’m in the mood for adulation.”

Even after burning her old opera costumes, Maria still longs to restore her voice, even if only for herself. “I don’t want to go just yet,” she tells her pianist, a line filled with deep, layered meaning. Much of Maria unfolds in a surreal, dream-like manner – with flashbacks to different periods and visual styles – and even her “real” life feels like a fever dream. It’s not accidental that the bland TV journalist sent to interview her, Mandrax (Kodi Smit-McPhee), shares a name with one of Callas’ main medications. The film takes us through her opera career and public life in various stages, like when she had to entertain Nazis in her youth or when she coolly rebuffed John F. Kennedy (Caspar Phillipson) when he asked about Onassis spending time with his wife. However, the movie truly finds its emotional core in the moments where Bruna and Ferruccio are there to support Maria, even as she tries her hardest to fall apart.

Would casting an actual opera singer have been an easier, and perhaps smarter, choice? Undoubtedly, but Jolie’s dedication to portraying Callas is evident on screen.

Some of the most compelling moments come when she reacts to hearing her own voice, such as during a dinner outing where she demands the restaurant owner stop playing one of her songs. “I cannot listen to my own records,” she says with intensity. “Because it is perfect, and a song should never be perfect.”

While Maria certainly has artistic ambition, it misses the mark in several areas. It’s a biopic that never reaches the soaring heights of a Callas aria, despite Jolie’s strong performance giving it a noticeable lift.