KSL Movie Show review: Maria follows the final days of a revered opera singer

Editor’s note: This is an editorial piece. An editorial, like a news article, is based on fact but also shares opinions. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and are not associated with our newsroom.

SALT LAKE CITY — While not a big fan of opera, I can appreciate the vocal excellence that’s required to be someone like the revered Maria Callas – considered by those who know these kinds of things – to be the greatest female opera singer of all time.

What is almost equally impressive, is that someone would have the courage to portray Maria in a movie, complete with moments in this opulent biopic where she sings. That someone is Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie.

Director Pablo Larraín, who also made “Jackie” and “Spencer,” said he would not have even attempted to make this film if Jolie was not onboard. She was his only choice. Up to the challenge, Angelina studied opera for seven months in hopes of understanding what made this amazing woman tick.

While the film does offer a handful of flashbacks to key events in Maria’s evolution, most of the story centers around her final days of life in 1970s Paris.

She lives in an elegant apartment overseen by her deeply devoted personal staff, her longtime butler Ferruccio (Pierfrancesco Favino), and housekeeper/cook Bruna (Alba Rohrwacher). They cater to her every whim, which can often be somewhat questionable, but they do her bidding with full loyalty and love.

Lately, Maria has not been well. She takes many pills, sometimes hiding them around her bedroom. She refuses to see a doctor, but when forced, she insists on ignoring his counsel. She has also recently been trying to find her voice again, not that she’s interested in performing as she hasn’t in years, but just for her satisfaction – and it hasn’t been successful. This effort has also drained her physically and emotionally.

In quiet moments, she reminisces about her difficult childhood, her lackluster marriage, her love affair with Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis (played brilliantly by Haluk Bilginer), her many triumphs on stage, and her need to be the center of attention.

At one point, she tells Ferruccio to book her a table at a nearby restaurant where the wait staff knows who she is, so she can be properly adored. Oh yeah, she’s a full-on diva, maybe the original, and she works it to perfection.

This is where Angelina shines as she’s so good at the cold-eyed stare, which makes people uncomfortable without having to say a word. The filmmakers were also smart enough to use Maria Callas’s actual recordings 90 percent of the time, but that left Jolie to belt out her tempered efforts to the best of her ability, and frankly, she wasn’t half bad.

For me, the true essence of this film was to show that sometimes having a gift of this magnitude can subjugate a person to a life of misery, even though outwardly anyone would want to be her. That is the beauty and sadness of this thoughtful examination of the life of Maria Callas.

MARIA (B) Rated R for some language including a sexual reference. Starring Angelina Jolie, Pierfrancesco Favino, Alba Rohrwacher, Haluk Bilginer and Kodi Smit-McPhee.  Directed by Pablo Larraín (“El Conde” “Spencer” “Jackie”) – filmed in Budapest, Paris and Greece. Running time: 124 minutes. 

Related: KSL Movie Show review: Moana 2 maintains the charm of the original