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Maria Callas, the world’s greatest opera singer, lives out the final days of her life in 1970s Paris as she confronts her identity and life. Angelina Jolie and director Pablo Larraín discuss how they connected to the real and moving story of world-renowned opera singer Maria Callas. Angelina Jolie, refusing to be dubbed and wanting to sing her own music, took 7 months of opera lessons to prepare for her role. For scenes set during Callas’s heyday, it is estimated that 90 to 95 percent of Callas’s original recordings were used, with Jolie lip-syncing these songs. However, Jolie’s singing comes to the fore during the film’s final act. In the third part of the film, a gray-black Citroën 2cv Charleston is parked in the background. The car was first unveiled at the Paris Carshow in 1980, 3 years after La Callas’ death… Maria Callas: Reserve a table for me in a café where the waiters will know who I am. I’m in the mood to be fawned over.. Referenced in Close-Up: Why Do We Need the Venice Film Festival? (2024). Otello Act 4: ‘Ave Maria’ (Desdemona) Performed by Maria Callas, Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire Conductor: Nicola Rescigno Written by Giuseppe Verdi, Arrigo Boito Warner Classics Release, (p) 1964 Parlophone Records Limited Remastered 2014 Parlophone Records Limited Courtesy of Warner Music Group Germany Holding GmbH, a Warner Music Group company. I agree with blanche-2 and other critics, as a former opera student of many years and a lover and connoisseur of opera. This may be a treat for those who like Angelina Jolie and enjoy seeing a pretty face on screen, but nothing here resembles the unique quality of the divine Maria. For starters, this is the worst dubbing I have ever seen in a biopic of a singer, and it was a surprise that a film that should have been a first-rate production continued to ignore this huge failure. After all, singing is the essence of the film, not a sideshow. And if you want to recreate Callas’s life using real recordings, the performance effort must be impeccable. Of course, it is as difficult as it is demanding, but if you want to compare Jolie’s reproduction, what a remarkable and well-executed example, watch La Mome, the biopic about Edith Piaf, and find pleasure in Marion Cotillard’s perfect and incredibly good execution. (Jolie’s lack of synchrony is so unbelievable.) Then, the physique du role. Jolie is one of the most beautiful actresses of our time. But there are physical disparities with Callas that cannot be fixed with makeup, and the lack of resemblance spoils the effort. Callas’s beauty was tempered, sculpted by life, acquired, the result of a profound effort of self-awareness and self-hardening and reshaping of her destiny. This kind of subjective process simply “showed” in her regal bearing and imposing stage presence. Jolie is a natural beauty, her beauty a gift given from the beginning, and in my opinion she failed to convey the dramatic depth of Callas’s appeal sufficiently to create the magical impression that we are watching a credible Callas. Furthermore, for those who love opera, Jolie’s embouchure (the singer’s “mouth mold”) is a joke, nothing compared to the unmistakable bel canto mouth mold that opera singers (and Callas) distinctively employ. It may seem like a minor detail, but the sum of inconsistencies and lack of attention to detail ends up being irritating. I didn’t list other observations that critics have already made, which I agree with, regarding the use of soundtrack, plot, and realism. I really wanted to like the movie, but it was a total disappointment for me. “One Hundred Years of Solitude” is one of the biggest TV and streaming premieres of this month. Check out our December calendar for more!

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