Maria (2024)- BFI London Film Festival 2024

Review

124min

Genre:       Fact-based, Drama, Music

Director:     Pablo Larraín

Cast:         Angelina Jolie, Pierfrancesco Favino, Alba Rohrwacher…and more

Writers:     Steven Knight

-Synopsis-

During her final days in 1970s Paris, the great Maria Callas recounts her life whilst struggling with her health and a hallucinatory pill addiction, reflecting on her loves and losses and on an incredible career with pain hidden beneath the surface, in this stylish unorthodox look behind the public masks of the prima donna American-born Greek operatic soprano and one of the most acclaimed singers of all time.

After taking on Pablo Neruda and Jacqueline Kennedy in 2016’s ‘Neruda’ and ‘Jackie’, Princess Diana in 2021’s ‘Spencer’, and Augusto Pinochet in 2023’s ‘El Conde’—all in unconventional biopic and even genre film style—acclaimed Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín underlines his preoccupation or perhaps obsession with crafting dramatic new perspectives and artistically liberated portraits of iconic 20^th century figures. Rounding off his so-called “Lady in Heels” trilogy of female-led biopics by focusing his lens on one of the most complex and revered singers of the century, delivering a lyrical and creative yet melancholy and wistful tribute to one of the greatest voices in history . . . and reminding us of what a diva truly is.

Angelina Jolie stars as a veteran “La Callas” herself, stewing in her lavish Paris apartment in the late 1970s having long since given up the stage, struggling with a pill dependency and a lonely existence but leaning on the loyalty of her cook/maid Bruna Lupoli (Alba Rohrwacher) and trusty driver/valet Ferruccio Mezzadri (Pierfrancesco Favino), while toying with the daunting prospect of a return to music. But her plans are complicated by her ailing health and a drug-induced trippy habit of reliving her past, as she re-visits the formative moments of her life with enigmatic interviewer ‘Mandrax’ (Kodi Smit-McPhee); including a difficult youth in wartime Greece (played by Aggelina Papadopoulou), her stage and high society triumphs, and a complex relationship with charismatic Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis (Haluk Bilginer).

As you might expect from a top-notch biographical period piece these days, particularly one set in the world of high art and culture and revolving around one of the most revered and elegant artists of the 20^th century, ‘Maria’ excels in the style stakes thanks to meticulous production designs which bring back eras from the 1940s to the 70s and the costume designs to match, rising to the daunting task of re-creating the extensive Maria Callas wardrobe.

Larraín also makes great use of picturesque Parisian locations where the film was largely set and shot, taking advantage of the many elegantly adorned corridors of opulent residences and the lavish grand concert halls found in the City of Lights, not to mention the decks of the one-time iconic jewel in the Onassis crown and now privately owned luxury charter yacht the ‘Christina O’, one of the most famous private yachts in history. All beautifully shot in both warm technicolor for the present and vivid monochrome for the past by American cinematographer and regular Todd Haynes collaborator Edward Lachman (Erin Brockovich, Carol).

Beyond the traditional trappings of a stylish period biopic though, ‘Maria’ proves inventive and unconventional featuring the artistic flourishes we’ve come to expect from its director when exploring a historical subject, as Larraín anchors the narrative in a later life period of a Maria Callas struggling with her physical and mental wellbeing, using it as a jumping off point to take hypothetical hallucinatory trips down memory lane courtesy of her dependency on powerful medication. The result is both a catalyst and companion for the narrative, often taking the form of flashbacks but occasionally also enthralling impromptu musical performances which flirt with making the film a musical, without ever truly committing.

It’s fitting that the music should be one of the stars of the piece, as Larraín foregoes an original score and opts instead to use several timeless and appropriate classical compositions from the likes of Puccini and Bellini, plus of course the haunting and otherworldly voice of Callas herself from stage performances and recordings, all sold on screen by one of the most convincing and impressive displays of movie lip-synching in memory by Angelina Jolie.

Indeed it’s Jolie herself who’s the real star of this show, delivering a towering and potentially career defining performance by mastering both the Callas cadence and her transatlantic twang while embodying her difficult but endearing personality and capturing her elegant essence, all helping bring to life the ultimate diva and prima donna, from a time when those designations still carried positive and reverential connotations. The Hollywood star also deserves credit for her efforts to scratch under the surface of a grand artist and seemingly self-assured perfectionist, revealing the sadness and regret of a complex and misunderstood public figure dwelling beneath.

She’s ably supported by the Italian screen duo of Alba Rohrwacher and Pierfrancesco Favino as her co-stars in the film and servants/only true friends in the story, Callas’s closest confidants at the end of a life which was extinguished too soon and in relative solitude—the price she paid for artistic perfection and cultural immortality.

It’s fair to say that at its core ‘Maria’ comes from a reverential place and although it does explore some of the traumatic formative experiences and psychological elements which made up the complex figure that was Maria Callas, screenwriter Steven Knight seldom goes beyond skin deep, instead opting for an approach that’s more an ode to the great diva than a dissection of her. Yet Larraín’s stylish, rousing, often poignant and occasionally humorous tribute to a musical icon still manages to comfortably stand on its own two heels, as he wraps up his “Lady in Heels” trilogy with the style and grace befitting his legendary subject.

The Bottom Line…

An unconventional and meticulously crafted, melancholy yet soulful and rousing period biopic ode to a timeless artist and iconic 20^th century cultural figure, ‘Maria’ digs lightly under the surface of a complex perfectionist and prototypical diva but soars on its inventive structure and superior style, plus the towering performance of its titular star, as Pablo Larraín brings it all together to deliver an elegant and hypnotic biographical drama to remember.

‘Maria’ is out on the 27th of November in selected US cinemas, streams on Netflix from the 11th of December, and is out on the 10th of January 2025 in UK cinemas.

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