David R. Walker

Archive for February 11th, 2025

Maria

Director: Pablo Larrain

Cast: Angelina Jolie, Pierfrancisco Favino, Alba Rohrwacher, Haluk Biligner, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Stephen Ashfield, Valeria Golino, Caspar Phillipson

Running Time: 2 hours and 4 minutes

Film Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Chilean director Pablo Larrain completes his beautiful trilogy of powerful and iconic woman with his latest film Maria starring Oscar winner Angelina Jolie (Girl, Interrupted) as Greek Opera diva Maria Callas all set in the last week of her gorgeous and tragic life in Paris in 1977. His first two films Jackie and Spencer were brilliant and earned both Natalie Portman and Kristen Stewart Oscar nominations for their turn as Jacqueline Kennedy and Diana Spencer respectively.

Angelina Jolie is extraordinary as Maria offering crisp pronunciation of all of screenwriter Steven Knight’s best lines as the fickle and eccentric Maria Callas.

In a series of televised interviews with the eccentric Mandrax played by Oscar nominee Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Power of the Dog) as he dutifully follows Maria around Paris, she looks back in her glamourous career and her famous love affair with Greek shipping Tycoon Aristotle Onassis played by Turkish actor Haluk Biligner.

At the centre of Larrain’s film Maria is the diva’s relationship with her two dutiful servants, the Italian butler Ferruccio wonderfully played by Pierfrancisco Favino (Rush, The Traitor) and Bruna played by Alba Rohrwacher (My Brilliant Friend, The Lost Daughter). Ferruccio is adoring of Maria Callas but disapproves of her nonchalance regarding her ever failing health.

As Steven Knight’s script weaves a fascinating if slightly confusing tale about Maria Callas’s splendid life including her superb performances at some of the worlds best Opera Houses including La Scala and The Metropolitan he deftly links Larrain’s film Jackie to Maria with the reappearance of JFK played by Danish actor Caspar Phillipson who also appeared as Jackie’s husband. The link is clear and historical. After the assassination of JFK, Jacqui Kennedy married Aristotle Onassis after he broke off his affair with Maria Callas.

It is a travesty that Angelina Jolie did not get a 2025 Oscar nomination for her role as Maria Callas. She really was superb, at once elegant and tragic, maintaining her dignity and defiance in the face of impending death.

Pablo Larrain’s film Maria is beautiful but flawed in places, although there are lots of lavish historical references to the Diva’s glamourous life in the 1950’s and 1960’s. I found parts of the film slightly repetitive although the film is saved by alluring cinematography by Ed Lachman who has been Oscar nominated.

Maria is mainly for Opera fans and this film version is a fitting bookend to Larrain’s complete fascination with these iconic women, a sumptuous end to a fascinating trilogy. Maybe he will do a film about Marilyn Monroe since she is referenced in this film when she sang Happy Birthday Mr President to JFK. Larrain clearly loves iconic moment.

Like the opera diva herself, the city of Paris in 1977 is the other character, haunting and sparking in the soft hues of autumn. The French capital is a perfect back drop for a film about the fading life of a legendary Opera star as she flounders amidst her sumptuous apartment amongst beautiful clothes, sparkling jewels and illicit drugs.

Pablo Larrain’s Maria gets a film rating of 7.5 out of 10, a beautiful film which could have been stylistically improved, saved by astonishing performances by Angelina Jolie and Pierfrancisco Favino.