One of the main highlights of the Venice Film Festival last September was Angelina Jolie. The Hollywood superstar has been taking it slowly these past few years, but she’s finally back to the big screen with a leading role that proves her versatility, emotion, and commitment to a character. In Maria, directed by Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín, Jolie steps into Maria Callas’ shoes — shoes that are incredibly big to fill. The opera singer and worldwide diva’s life was convulse and full of drama, but Larraín centres this movie around her latest years in Paris.
Pablo Larraín is no stranger to exploring the lives and, most importantly, the psyches of powerful women in contemporary history. His 2016 film Jackie, starring Natalie Portman (who was nominated to Best Actress in the Academy Awards), showed us a lesser known side to one of the most famous First Ladies of the United States: Jackie Kennedy. In 2021, he enrolled Kristen Stewart to play Diana, Princess of Wales, in Spencer, which also got her an Academy Award nomination. Now, the Chilean director is back to delving into the private life of another popular icon: Maria Callas.
Born in New York to Greek parents in 1923, la Callas was arguably the most prominent opera singer in the 20th century. Her popularity was incalculable, and she toured worldwide for decades, from stage to stage, starring in some of the better known operas in history, from Puccini to Wagner, to Verdi and Rossini. But her private life overshadowed her unmatched artistry, especially since the media seemed eager to run stories assassinating her character and demonising her temperament, often portraying her as difficult and overly demanding. Larraín’s film, expected to hit theatres in the United States on November 27th and Mubi on December 11th, will explore the artistry, the life, and the polemics around the great icon that La Callas was and still is.