Maria (2024) Film Review: The World is an Opera Stage

Featuring Angelina Jolie’s best performance to date in the main role, Pablo Larraín’s Maria is a fascinating story where real life meets opera.

As it goes on, we witness the full scope of Maria’s life through her memories, thoughts, and arias, finally seeing her for who she really is thanks to a particularly powerful performance by the lead actress Angelina Jolie.

This film represents the final chapter in Larraín’s trilogy on biographies of iconic women. This time, he focuses on a famous opera singer whom anyone familiar with the world of theatre will have at least heard of. The movie follows Maria Callas (Angelina Jolie) in the last week of her life while she is living in Paris. Maria, now retired from the stage, lives alone, with her butler Ferruccio (Pierfrancesco Favino, of Comandante) and her housekeeper Bruna (Alba Rohrwacher, of La Chimera), who both worry about her medicine intake and declining mental state.

Much of Maria is focused heavily on the music and, more specifically, the singing. This is almost a given, as the film revolves around one of the most influential opera singers of the 20th century, but the way the music is included in this film is particularly fascinating. By using the recording with the real voice of Maria Callas anytime the character sings in the movie, the film gives everyone in the audience the opportunity to witness her talent and hear her sing.  I also really liked how the soundtrack is made up exclusively of opera music, whether that is songs performed by Callas herself or the instrumental version of some of the most famous arias of the time.

With “La Traviata”, “Elvira”, and “La Carmen” often in the background, Maria is constantly populated by opera, both through the music and also visually. Everywhere she goes in Paris easily becomes an opera stage, as she finds herself surrounded by orchestra players and the normal people around her become the chorus supporting her performance. While everyone else is trying to separate Maria, the real person with her own individuality, and “La Callas,” the famous diva the world sees her as, Larraín creates a poignant and emotional portrayal that combines the two sides of the same woman.

In this sense, the film also seems to constantly thread between real life and the stage, with the two mixing more often than not in Maria’s mind. Not only does the movie show us Maria performing in some of the biggest theatres in the world, but it also literally creates a stage for her anywhere she likes, thanks to the fantastic production design and careful use of costumes. After all, Maria herself says it in the film: “my life is opera.” This easily makes Maria much more than a simple biography of the life of a great woman. Instead, with his latest film Larraín adds an entirely new level to her story by exploring the psychological turmoil during her last few days.

As the audience witnesses the last few days of Maria’s life, the film constantly crosses the line between what is real and what is purely in her own imagination. Naturally, the focus is predominantly on Maria and her interiority, as the audience gains an insight into the inner workings of her mind. This is undoubtedly elevated by Jolie’s brilliant acting in what feels like the role of a lifetime for the American actress. The supporting cast is just as excellent with Pierfrancesco Favino and Alba Rohrwacher, both delivering impressive performances.

Maria is one of Larraín’s most successful films to date, thanks to the compelling narrative and powerful performances. Viewers who liked previous films in this trilogy, namely Jackie (2016) and Spencer (2021), will find this last chapter as interesting as the previous two, if not perhaps more. In fact, this film also opens up an entirely new world for those in the audience who may have not been familiar with Callas, or the world of opera, before watching this movie.

Maria had its World Premiere at the Venice Film Festival on August 29, 2024.