29/08/2024 - VENICE 2024: Pablo Larraín concludes his “lonely ladies in empty apartments” trilogy, but this particular aria feels overlong

Angelina Jolie in Maria

Here’s hoping that Pablo Larraín makes a sprawling western next time, surrounded only by wide-open spaces. He really needs to get out, badly: out of the homes belonging to iconic women, out of their dressers full of reminders of glory days and drugs bringing temporary relief. “Close that door, baby,” says Maria Callas’s sister in the film, but this director shouldn’t listen. He should kick it open and flee – even further away than in that 2023 oddity El Conde.

That’s not to say that Maria [+see also:
trailer
film profile] is a disaster, but the “lonely ladies in empty apartments” concept is getting tiresome now. Premiering in Venice’s main competition, it feels too familiar – especially to Jackie [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], with both brunette beauties performing a very similar, drug-induced dance. These parallels are interesting, as they actually had an Onassis in common, but it’s never about female solidarity in these dramas. These famous women whom Larraín keeps following, at one point probably the most famous in the whole world, keep to themselves. They digest past mistakes and suffer melodramatically but privately, surrounded by faithful servants and glorious furniture.

The claustrophobia of Larraín’s stories was intriguing at first – it also led to some odd, committed performances. Natalie Portman’s shaky Jackie and Kristen Stewart’s girlish Diana in Spencer [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] were always a bit too strange for full-on Oscar glory, and while nominated, they didn’t win. Out of all three, Angelina Jolie disappears into Callas the least. If – borrowing one pianist’s words from the film – you can hear Maria or you can hear “La Callas”, instead of Jolie the Actor, you get Jolie the Star.

As a star, Jolie is undeniable. As an actor, it has been a while since she’s done anything remotely interesting, piling up all those Maleficents instead. “Garbo laughs!”, boasted an old MGM ad, teasing a brand-new chapter in her career. This time, you won’t believe that “Jolie sings”.

Her stiff performance doesn’t hit the highest octaves – it also sets the tone for a story that’s ticking too many recognisable boxes. There are good-natured servants, ignored doctors, the whole lonely-on-the-top shtick. At least Maria offers one thing that Jackie and Spencer couldn’t. It’s not just about losing one’s youth, beauty or social standing any more; it’s also about losing one’s talent.

This Callas, living out her very last days in the 1970s, is like Moira Shearer in The Red Shoes – she can’t stop doing what she loves, even though her body (and mind) has been betraying her already for a while. Or, to be more exact, she can’t stop now, because she’s done it before. Pleasantly high, she keeps walking around the city, talking to an imaginary film crew. At one point, she claims her lover knew he could never control her, but he did. So did her mother, who literally sold her and her sister. This woman, so powerful on the stage, allowed herself to be repeatedly caged. Now, Jolie’s Callas finally has a chance to be free, at 53 years of age. But damn – just like in The Red Shoes, she can’t stop dancing.

Maria is an Italian-German-US co-production staged by The Apartment (a Fremantle company), Komplizen Film and Fabula. FilmNation Entertainment is overseeing its international sales.

Photogallery 29/08/2024: Venice 2024 - Maria

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Pablo Larraín, Pierfrancesco Favino, Alba Rohrwacher, Angelina Jolie, Taylor Russell
© 2024 Fabrizio de Gennaro for Cineuropa - fadege.it, @fadege.it