'Maria' Hits an Okay Note
Pablo Larraín aims for the hat trick in his trilogy of famous women suffering from depression. Maria may be his weakest entry of the three, as it doesn't show any real strong narrative threads until the third act of the picture. Most of it meanders slowly, building character and setting rather than thrusting us into the story. For those (like me) who don't know who Maria Callas was, you'll instantly recognize some of her tunes when they play in the film. Songs like Bizet's Carmen Habanera may spring to your mind from your favorite comedy. Or you may recognize the music from Giacomo Puccini's O mio babbino caro. In other words, the song you heard in all those Grand Theft Auto III ads at the time of its release. Callas' voice was haunting, iconic, and something that, according to this film, may have resulted in her death.
The movie does what a lot of films do. It starts at the end of the story and then goes back to the beginning to see how things wound up there. As the coroners are zipping Maria Callas up in a body bag, it would have been hilarious if the film freeze-framed, and Maria said in a narration, "So you're probably wondering how I wound up here." Sorry, I have a morbid sense of humor. Like Larraín's last two films on famous female figures, the movie focuses on grief and death. At the film's opening, police are gathered as well as Maria's caretakers. The date appears on the screen: September 16, 1977. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what happened. Maria Callas was much too young when she died at just 53.
Throughout the film, there are hints of Maria's failing health. One of her caretakers, Pierfrancesco Favino (Ferruccio Mezzadri) informs Maria that her Doctor called her. He didn't say why other than she must contact him. Instead of taking the advice seriously, Maria blows it off, not acknowledging Pierfrancesco's requests. Later, when Maria finally does see her Doctor, he tells her if she keeps straining her voice, she may die. Also, her liver is failing. How the liver relates to the voice is something you'd have to ask a Doctor about. Telling an artist they can't do what they love is like telling someone they can't breathe. Maria doesn't listen to her Doctor's advice, deciding to continue singing, even if it kills her, which it very well does. Spoilers much? No, just breaking down things that happened in real life.
After witnessing Maria's death at the beginning of the film, the audience is taken through a montage of Maria's life, cross-cutting 8mm color home films with a black-and-white fourth wall-breaking shot of Maria singing to the camera, making the viewer her audience. The sequence is reminiscent of Oliver Stone's style incorporated in JFK, Natural Born Killers, and the criminally underrated Nixon by combining different formats with rapid-fire editing.
Breaking the film's structure down are the elements of a documentary done on her. The documentarian, Mandrax (Kodi Smit McPhee), is documenting the last days of Maria's life. In the film, he says it's her final remaining days on earth, but how does he know that? It doesn't make a lot of sense. The documentary breaks each act down into three parts with an epilogue. It's a clever way of structuring a film that could have used a little more tightening in the editing room.
If there's one thing that Maria lacks, it's a driving force to keep the audience engaged. If you don't like opera and classical music (as most people would rather listen to WAP instead), this film won't win you over. Maria is made for fans of classical music. There are long interludes of Maria singing at the opera or practicing her voice for an unscheduled show. Everything works when things wrap up in the end. Unfortunately, the journey to get there can be a drag to sit through.
Most of the film is Maria either practicing for a show or speaking with her care takers. The movie displays the image of a confident woman who doesn't let her ego conquer her kindness. Maria Callas considers her care-female taker, Bruna Lupoli (Alba Rohrwacher), to be a friend. It doesn't matter if she's classically trained or not. Or if Maria is paying her. Bruna's opinion is just as valid as anyone else's. This instance shows that Maria Callas views everyone as equals. She might be considered a Diva, but not the kind that treats people like they're beneath them. The film paints a complicated picture of the famous artist. She can get testy when questioned about her voice. In one scene, a fan approaches her, very politely saying he was disappointed when she canceled one of her performances. Instead of just saying "thank you," Maria screams at the fan, telling him she was sick. This is due to the press accusing Maria of not being sick when she cancelled a big performance.
Pablo Larraín makes an incredibly beautiful film that comes across as hollow in the beginning but a little more layered in the end. Is it layered enough, though? Not really. Unlike Jackie or Spencer, there's little dramatic momentum. The movie doesn't deal with extremities like mental health problems or having to overcome insurmountable grief. Maria is slow-burn cinema that works best for its aesthetics. Look at all the lush opera houses and Maria Callas' large mansion just never mind the story. Much of the film is a big setup for a small payoff. Maria is overall a pretty good film, if not a somewhat dull one.
There's clearly a lot of love for the subject. Angelina Jolie knocks it out of the park as Maria Callas. She really captures the internal struggle Callas had while maintaining a great deal of dignity. After watching a few videos of the real Maria Callus speaking after seeing this film, it's almost uncanny how much Jolie resembles the singer. Obviously, she's lip-syncing the movie. Not everyone is going to sound like a legendary singer. The sound mixing is done well enough that it's not noticeably lip-synced. For instance, there's a scene later on in the picture where Maria is having trouble breathing in between notes. When Jolie coughs, it's tough to tell if we're hearing a re-recording of Maria Callas or that it's actually Angelina singing.
Callas refuses to quit because artists don't give up. Real art comes from torture, as Maria points out in the film. Boy, ain't that the truth? By the film's wrap, we don't learn more about Maria Callas than you could find in an IMDB or Wikipedia search.
The film looks gorgeous, but looks don't make a film alone. Maria is far from shallow, but it could use a little more than montages or lush production/costume design to get by. When you snap away from Pablo Larraín's spell, you're left with a pretty good picture, but it probably won't be remembered outside of Angelina Jolie's performance in the long run.
