Film Review: MARIA (2024): Angelina Jolie is Solid Gold in Filmmaker Pablo Larraín’s Best Work to Date

Maria Review

Maria (2024) Film Review, a movie directed by Pablo Larraín, written by Steven Knight and starring Angelina Jolie, Pierfrancesco Favino, Alba Rohrwacher, Haluk Bilginer, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Stephen Ashfield, Valeria Golino, Caspar Phillipson, Lydia Koniordou, Vincent Macaigne, Aggelina Papadopoulou, Erophilie Panagiotarea, Philipp Droste, Alessandro Bressanello, Paul Spera, Kay Madsen and Lyes Salem.

The always formidable Angelina Jolie stars in director Pablo Larraín’s masterful tale of madness and liberation, Maria. Self-confidence can become a form of insanity as opera singer, Maria Callas (Jolie), so nonchalantly says early on in this brilliantly conceived motion picture. The lines between reality and fiction are blurred throughout this uniquely imagined vision from a director who has never been afraid to take big risks. As Callas struggles with thoughts of writing her autobiography, life and death, and a self-imagined series of events, the viewer will be in awe of Jolie’s fabulous and delicate work right from the word “go.”

Pablo Larraín alternates between color and black and white during sequences of the profoundly intriguing Maria. A stretcher is seen taking out a dead body from a beautiful home. This corpse is believed to be that of Callas as the film’s main premise kicks into gear and the movie takes us back prior to the events that start the picture. A slate with the film’s title is soon clacked and, then, the movie also later introduces chapters (acts) of the picture in the same fashion proving the grand cinematic aspects of Callas’s larger-than-life world whether it is real or imagined throughout the duration of the picture.

We meet a young Callas (a fine Aggelina Papadopoulou) who has a knack for singing opera before going back to the very real talks about the older Callas’s slew of medications. Callas is also displayed as very defensive as she insists to a fan that she was “not well” during a very particular time in her life. Jolie takes this role by the horns and wrestles with her very complex character. It’s the finest leading performance the renowned actress has ever done. “Music is born of misery,” Callas tell her interviewer, a filmmaker named Mandrax (a terrific Kodi Smit-McPhee), in a scene which captures the essence of Callas and the very fabric of the life that the film lays its foundation upon. Callas declares, “I will sing when I am ready to sing!” And when she does, she’s larger than life itself.

Pierfrancesco Favino as Callas’s Butler, Ferruccio, and Alba Rohrwacher as her maid, Bruna, are two people who seems lowly in some respects but their presence complements Maria Callas’s life in rich ways that manifest themselves throughout this lengthy but extraordinary work of art. Watch a scene where they move a piano. Callas’s interpretation of their work is evident of the sadness and emptiness she feels in her life. 

A film-making journey is embarked upon by all involved in this lavish and thought-provoking production. When watching the heart-wrenching and devastating story of Maria Callas unfold, the movie unveils layer after layer that is both powerful and definitive of the very unique character of the artist it portrays. This is one of the finest movies of the year in so many ways. The scenery and settings are so visually appealing. According to Mandrax, a certain gentleman in Callas’s life who she knew in Venice put restrictions on her life and the movie then proceeds to lay out more groundwork that involves gambling with both money and with one’s heart.

Haluk Bilginer is well-cast as Aristotle Onassis. Bilginer’s role could have been a smaller one in a lesser film but Maria doesn’t ever sell its audiences short. What I love best about Maria is how Jolie embodies her character and gives her depth, realism and backstory. Nobody could have played this role so well. Jolie is deserving of an Oscar nomination. I had reservations before seeing this film that she could handle the complexity of playing Maria Callas but Jolie blew me away and proved me wrong in every preconceived notion that I had regarding this film.

In the film, Maria Callas, who was born in New York, believes she didn’t marry Aristotle for several reasons but the audience knows the truth just from the way Maria moves and presents herself to those who inquire within for her thoughts on certain particular topics and life choices. 1977 is the year much of the film is set but this story is so timeless, it could have well been set during any time frame with equally stellar results. Pay close attention to actress Valeria Golino and Jolie’s very crucial scene in the picture as it says a lot in just a few brief minutes.

Maria is something of a horror movie at times in terms of the way Callas’s life is closing in on her. Moments of success and fame are fleeting and this movie reminds us of that harsh and disturbing reality. Jolie has turned a role that could have been one-dimensional in another actress’s hands and creates the performance of the year. Maria‘s costumes and cinematography are equally important to the film achieving complexity in its grand and provocative themes.

Maria could well be the movie of the year. I’ve seen it a couple of times now and can truly say Jolie’s work will break your heart many times over. The last moments of the movie loom over the viewer and the final sequence hits the viewer with an emotional sledgehammer. We question our own existence through Maria Callas’s trials and tribulations and the result is absolutely unforgettable. This is the stuff movie magic is made of and this film is a splendid experience to behold from beginning to end.

Rating: 10/10

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