Bronwen K. Bradshaw, Arts & Entertainment Editor  

(Image From, Does Angelina Jolie Actually Sing In Maria?) 

Director Pablo Larrain takes us on another journey of aesthetically beautiful filmmaking with Netflix’s “Maria,” written by Steven Knight and starring Angelina Jolie.  

This film follows Maria La Callas, the most famous opera singer of the twentieth century and today, embarking on a journey of the singer’s final moments in 1970s Paris. Larrain is not new to directing films around the tragic lives of famed women. Notably, Larrain has directed and found great success in his depiction of Jackie Kenndey and the aftermath of the assassination of President Kennedy in the film “Jackie” (2016), starring Natalie Portman, as well as directing the film “Spencer” (2021), which follows Princess Diana as she struggles with her inner turmoil throughout a holiday escapade at the Queen’s estate, Sandringham House in Norfolk, in 1991.  

Maria follows a similar path to his previous films, a tranquil and soft landscape surrounded by luxuries and despair for the main protagonist. Now in her fifties, Maria has succumbed to losing her soprano voice, as well as her mind and sense of identity.  

Maria spends most of her time tucked away inside her Parisian apartment with the company of her Butler, Ferruccio (Pierfrancesco Favino), and her housemaid, Bruna (Alba Rohrwacher). Maria reflects on the past, mostly her affair with wealthy businessman Aristotle Onassis, who eventually left Maria for Jackie Kennedy, another of Larrain’s subjects. She recalls her time as a singer and her childhood before stardom. These memories torment Maria, leading her to partake in drug abuse, order her butler to move the piano in her apartment countless times, and hallucinations of her once again on stage and being interviewed by a man named Mandrax after her favorite drug prescription.  

Upon watching the film, I was profoundly amazed by Angelina Jolie’s performance as the opera singer. Jolie fully embodies the role of Maria, the Diva. According to an article in the New York Times, to prepare for the role, “Jolie trained for seven months to sing some of the music, and while she is lip-syncing to some of Callas’s famous performances, she is completely immersed in all of it.” However, the film was sometimes stagnant, with many scenes romanticizing the desperate nature of Maria’s decline. We watch her walk along the landscape of Paris, practice her voice on stage in an empty theatre, and sit in a cafe, waiting to be “adored.” The film gives the audience no room to grow but to watch the final moments of Maria as she clings to the remnants of her lovely voice, asks her housemaid for her opinion on her singing, and eventually passes away.  

The scenes in which Maria remembers her time with Onassis are fleeting but add a depth to the film that otherwise would have been a mere cinematic spectacle. The memories with Onassis are shot in black and white, contrasting the warm, natural lighting of the rest of the piece. Not much is said about the two’s relationship other than that Maria loved him; he was richly ugly, and his death impacted her.  

My favorite scene in the film was towards the end, where I believe Jolie performed her best. On Maria’s last day alive, she breaks into a heartbreaking song, imagining an orchestra playing alongside her in her apartment, crying the notes out the open window. People in the street, including her butler and housemaid, listen to the angelic voice of the former singer. Jolie’s is remarkable, letting the music and voice to the talking and her acting relay the emotions Maria has succumbed to in her latter days.  

The film ends with Maria’s death and montage footage of the real Maria La Callas, as her operatic prowess lives on in her voice and adoration. Though the film’s subtlety is left to be desired plot-wise, the essence of the film rings true of the tragic Diva and the impact she had on opera music. Jolie and Larrain’s tribute to the singer cannot be understated, inviting a new audience to learn of Maria Callous and appreciate opera as an art form.