Maria By Callas (2017) User Reviews

listen to the music, not the words

[ferguson-6 · 7/10 · 20 November 2018]

Greetings again from the darkness. These days, it's inconceivable for anyone under 40 years old to think there was a time when the general public knew very little of the private life of celebrities - even those of whom they were dedicated fans. Today, it's not uncommon for celebrities to pre-package their life, delivering behind-the-scenes details that far too many people care about. Madonna, Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift and Jennifer Lopez are just a few that have simultaneously tried to appease and manipulate fans into a feeling that they really know the person behind the superstar facade - and perhaps fulfill a fantasy of some common ground. Even more prevalent are the biopics, either in the form of a documentary (WHITNEY: CAN I BE ME) or dramatization (RAY).

Filmmaker Tom Volf realizes that the great Opera singer Maria Callas was known for two things: being a world class soprano/actress and for being difficult to work with ... the ultimate diva, one might say. Working with narrator and noted mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, the film expertly reinforces those two traits, and even adds a new label: narcissist. It does so by using (as the title suggests) Maria Callas' own words taken from interviews, letters to friends, and personal diary entries.

The Greek-American Opera singer/actress was born in Brooklyn to Greek immigrants, and, as a teenager, moved to Athens with her mother and sister after her parents' marriage fell apart. Director Volf uses a BBC TV interview with David Frost to provide a framing structure to the film, but there are also clips of other interviews shown, and of course, Ms. DiDonato's readings of the personal Callas writings. We learn Maria was originally controlled by her mother, and then by agents and her husband. Maria attempts to explain how the "difficult" label undeservedly stuck to her for decades due almost entirely to her vocal issues/illness at one sold out performance at the New York Metropolitan. Her own words later contradict, or at least cast much doubt on the accuracy of this simplification.

Archival footage of her life ... her mostly glamorous life ... is shown throughout, including bits with Aristotle Onassis, filmmaker Vittorio De Sica, actor Omar Sharif, filmmaker Pier Pablo Pasolini, Grace Kelly, and renowned soprano Elvira de Hidalgo, who became Maria's voice coach. Maria's fairy tale life is on display: chauffeurs, standing ovations, worshipping fans, and her incredible wardrobe that made her a fashion icon of the times. Her words convey the unhappiness and loneliness she felt, even during the "good times".

It's the stage performances that made her famous and took her to the top, so Mr. Volk includes several full-length numbers from Verdi, Bellini, Bizet and others ... her glorious talent on full display and surely to inspire awe from any first timers. So while her singing provides a welcome respite from her words, it's those words ... her own words ... that seem to solidify her reputation as a diva. Though she claims to have been controlled by others, she managed to take extended breaks throughout her career, and every opera fan and director understands that vocal issues arise periodically, so it's quite doubtful anyone would hold an extended grudge over such an occurrence.

A substantial portion of the film deals with Maria's long-term affair with Aristotle Onassis, and how shocked she was, and betrayed she felt, when he married Jackie Kennedy without so much as a word of warning. And when his marriage to Jackie crumbled, he came scurrying back to Maria, who openly welcomed him ... a sure sign of just how lonely she had been for most of her life, despite the glamour and adulation. We can debate whether the legacy of Callas might have been better off had her personal thoughts remained buried, but there is little doubt that we are sometimes better off simply enjoying the work or art of a rare talent, rather than getting to know them as a person.

The Magnetism of Maria Callas

[larrys3 · 8/10 · 3 April 2019]

In one part of this documentary on the life and career of Maria Callas, she is returning to perform at the Metropolitan Opera House, in NYC, after a 7 year absence and a TV reporter is interviewing some of Callas' devoted fans who have been sleeping in line all night to be able to purchase tickets. One enthusiastic young man says that she is just magnetic on stage and has the greatest singing voice of the century. After viewing this film I would agree with him on both counts.

The doc, directed by Tom Volf, is a tribute to the complex and highly intelligent Callas, and much of the movie is told through her own words, vintage film clips, and some parts of her mesmerizing onstage performances. I'll readily admit I'm not a follower of opera but when Callas sang and acted onstage it was truly incredible with her range and charisma.

There's also, once she reached superstar status, the constant invasion of her privacy by the paparazzi (of course, decades before social media) , only heightened when she began a long relationship with the billionaire Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis. Even more so when he left her to marry Jackie Kennedy, only to return to Callas before his death.

Overall, although the doc is perhaps overly long at just under 2 hours, I just found Callas' persona and life story to be quite fascinating.

Takes you back in time convincingly, makes it easy to appreciate the art

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 18 May 2018]

"Maria by Callas" is the title of Tom Volf's first directorial effort and it's a pretty impressive work for a rookie these 110 minutes we got here. The subject is of course the late famous opera singer Maria Callas and we find out about career and private life in here. It is of course inevitable that the film is packed with her singing and that is maybe the best thing about it all. These visitors from her concert in the United States could not be any more right in saying she is a definite contender for greatest voice of the 20th century. And speaking about interviews, there are also many interviews with Madame Callas herself that add a great deal of charm and made it easy to see for me why she is so appreciated and desired until today. Not just in her performances, also in her interviews there always feels to be a sense of perfection that also has a bit of a sad note to me as I doubt there is one point we really see the Maria that she really is, but there is always a bit of an act to her. But it adds to the fascination. Maybe I would have liked to find out a bit about her really young years, but it's fine nonetheless as we see a brief summary to her rise to fame and global stardom, but a lot more focus is on her falling from grace, more with the press than with individual concert visitors who always managed to appreciate her. Another thing I found a bit sad was how she kept talking about the family she longed to have, but every time in the next sentence she tried to talk herself out of this wish by saying it wasn't meant to be and that she had to sacrifice it for her career, while stating repeatedly that being truly loved by a man and children maybe would have made her infinitely more happy than what she achieved by making millions of people so happy with her voice. Men also seem like a complicated subject looking at her first (and only) marriage with Meneghini and how it all went wrong before her lifelong affection for Aristotle Onassis who picked another femme extravangante when it counted the most and broke her heart, but still this did not keep her from caring for him when he returned to her in search for affection, not love. The short scene with Pasolini and her work on his movie was a nice inclusion too. It is a very insightful documentary we have here and I find it pretty sad this has not yet scored a lot of awards attention. It is a 2017 release yes, but I hope it changes in the coming months. I knew almost nothing about Callas before and I must say I turned a bit into a fan while watching. A truly gifted artist, but also a very tragic character admittedly. Well done, one of the best documentaries I have recently seen and this one for me is way closer to 4 out of 5 stars than to 2 out of 5. Go watch it if you have the chance. Maria will win you over for sure as she did with me and that's quite a compliment as I am not a great opera fan at all.

splendid

[Kirpianuscus · 21 July 2018]

One of most impressive portraits of Maria Callas. lovely because it is answer to many expectations. explanation for the presence of her name with same intensity today, like yesterday. her vulnerability - from the egocentric perspective about life and the people around her to the chance gived by Pasolini. a film who escape to the temptation to be a pure eulogy/hommage. a film defined by the emotions you feel. more than by other pieces. so, a splendid work.

The Price Of Fame

[StrictlyConfidential · 6/10 · 25 March 2020]

Believe me - You don't have to be a die-hard opera fan in order to appreciate this engaging celebrity bio-documentary about famed soprano singer, Maria Callas (1923-1977).

Born in Manhattan, NY, USA - Maria Callas (who had an incredibly wide vocal range and impeccable vibrato control) is unanimously regarded as being one of the most influential and renowned female opera singers of the entire 20th century.

Through stills, archival footage, and interviews - This 2-hour presentation looks at the highs, as well as the lows, of the life and times of Maria Callas.

Excellent

[jonflynn1 · 9/10 · 13 May 2018]

I have watched a few documentaries about Callas over the years and this one still had many surprises in store for me. I thought the interviews and footage used were excellent. I had never seen her speak so much and, at times, lucidly about her life. You have the success and the solitude, the art and the love. There are also some exquisite arias. It is very moving, if you look carefully behind the facade.

Our Maria...

[Thanos_Alfie · 7/10 · 22 May 2020]

"Maria by Callas" is a Documentary about the life and work of the very famous Greek-American opera singer Maria Callas. The life of Maria Callas is presented from her early years until her death. There are also many people are talking about Maria Callas and her contribution in opera.

I liked this documentary very much because it is presented very well the life of Maria Callas, her early years, her marriage with Giovanni Battista Meneghini and her divorce, her relationship with Aristotle Onassis and of course her carrier in singing and her love for the opera. I strongly recommend everyone to watch this documentary because even if you believe that you know everything about the life of Maria Callas you will still learn more about her.

Superb Documentary

[Tony Rome · 10/10 · 7 October 2018]

I don't think some of the viewers understand, this is Maria by Callas. This film contains no modern commentary, it is strictly focused on Maria Callas own memoir, performances, and TV interviews. Very well inserted footage of David Frost show, Callas performances, and news-clippings from the period of about 1947-1977. The film goes deep into understanding the demons that haunted Madame Callas, pressures from spouse, pressures from the Met, and other places of performance to continue to perform and please the masses.

Not as fantastic as it should have been

[Davalon-Davalon · 6/10 · 1 October 2022]

Maria Callas was a singularly unique individual. Her entire life led her to become an amazing, world famous opera singer. This documentary relies way too much on very, very limited footage of an interview she did with David Frost, some home videos and other footage taken of her at various comings-and-goings of concert performances, as well as stolen moments with Aristotle Onassis.

One comes away from the experience thinking that she had this glorious, glorious soprano voice, that she obviously had no one protecting her from despicable paparazzi, reporters, photographers, interviewers and fans, and that she had a dual vision of herself: one as a woman who longed for a husband and family, the other as the world famous celebrity/talent that she was.

Seeing how reporters descended on her like vultures is very disturbing. She kept her regalness intact and I truly admired her. Nowadays any celebrity of her stature would have an army of bodyguards protecting her, but that wasn't the case back then.

Also, the press was relentless in their pursuit of the Aristotle-Jackie-Maria stories, just like they were about Liz-Richard-Eddie stories. It's horrid how these stars were treated. It's a wonder anyone can survive the entertainment business.

I enjoyed the tidbits of hearing her sing, but I found the annoying cutaways of poorly filmed interviews, obnoxious questions by stupid reporters (including Barbara Walters, the worst one of all) and other grainy clips of her private life to be an insult to this magnificent talent.

Fantastic documentray

[safelton_11 · 10/10 · 21 December 2018]

I heard a segment on NPR about "Maria by Callas" and wanted to see the movie. It was fantastic. What an amazing talent, what a special human being. I was so touched, I walked out of the theater with a smile and feeling really good.

So much talent, so little joy

[evening1 · 6/10 · 11 December 2023]

What a surprise to learn that Maria Callas was born in New York City and lived there till 13, when her Greek-immigrant mom took her back to the homeland in 1937.

Through film clips, diary entries, and letters, we learn that Ms. Callas's mother recognized her vocal talent early on, and the young lady who would become "La Divina" lied about her age to begin conservatory. Her voice coach, Elvira de Hidalgo, became her lifelong, and perhaps only, friend.

A theme that runs through this stunningly scored documentary is that Callas would have traded international fame for motherhood -- "that is the vocation of a woman," she says, sounding the theme in telling someone, "I envy your family -- there is no greater wealth on earth." Instead, she worked tirelessly at her art till she died in Paris at just 53.

Callas repeatedly says that kids should have a childhood, unlike herself. Her boundless talent kept her continuously rehearsing or performing. Not until the movie's final frame or two do we see anything but a perfectly coiffed, made-up, and wardrobed star who speaks flawless French. Not once does the diva kick back with a burger and fries or kibbitz with a pal.

The film is kaleidoscopic, zooming in and out of stage or concert performances. We learn virtually nil about the man Callas married and came to resent, the toy poodles that accompanied her everywhere, or the destiny of her family of origin. If she ever had a niece or nephew for comfort as she aged, we learn nothing of them.

It is intriguing to see interview clips of Callas's early voice teacher from Athens and a cigarette-smoking Edward R. Murrow. We catch a glimpse of Queen Elizabeth, as well as King Edward VIII with Wallis Simpson, all entering a performance hall to see the phenom -- too bad they couldn't offer recollections!

Then there's the topic of "Aristo" Onassis, who for awhile gave Callas sanctuary from flashbulb-foisting mobs ("He made me feel liberated.") It seems the poor woman rarely caught a break -- be it because she was at the height of her artistic powers, or because her "nerves" forced her to cancel performances mid-way through.

If the movie has a flaw, it's that it homes in on Callas's somewhat frozen-looking smile a little too often. We get that she was a very handsome woman, yet we sense that her facial expression is forced. Callas got a rough start in life, what with her detour around childhood and arrival in Greece on the eve of World War II -- Wikipedia says her mother urged her to fraternize with Axis soldiers in exchange for food -- unhappy marriage, and years-long fling with Onassis -- culminating in his surprise marriage to Jackie Kennedy.

Callas cancelled one performance mid-way due partly to severe depression, and it's a shame that a person of her wealth and privilege apparently never got help.

"Destiny is destiny -- there is no way out," she opines, seeming, perhaps, to reflect the worldview of Medea, protagonist of a film she made after her singing voice gave out (Pasolini, 1969).

A wonderful trip back in time

[proud_luddite · 8/10 · 19 December 2018]

Footage of the great opera superstar is included in this French documentary which includes various interviews, letters she had written and recorded arias performed live. The main focus is an interview with David Frost in the 1960s.

This film has an unfair advantage compared to other documentaries. Its subject is so compelling that it can only come off as great regardless of the skills of the film-makers. (In fairness, the film-makers did a fine job.)

Callas truly represents the grandeur of the 50s, 60s, and early 70s. She had a regal elegance with an old-world, old-school charm that has been missing for many years - decades even. The highlight of watching such stunning arias (much greater than just hearing the audio recordings) provides an elation that could never be experienced by downloading an app to a mobile phone.

Though Callas - the person and the singer - lived in the same world as the one we are in now, the world then seems like a different entity from the one we currently inhabit. This alone makes the viewing of this film so worthwhile. Further evidence of a greater difference in this "other world" included separate brief interviews with three young, intelligent men lined up for hours at the Met opera house in the mid-1960s, expressing great admiration for the diva. Such articulate admiration for great artists is very unlikely in our current times.

The film does have its flaws. Some of the English dialogue in the footage was incomprehensible. Subtitles would have been more than helpful. Also, some of Callas's old letters were narrated in a tone that did not always sound genuine. But the pluses far outnumber the minuses.

Around the beginning of the film, Callas makes a quote of how music is one of the ways that the great heavens can be made earthbound. She certainly lived up to that principle. This film graciously proves so. - dbamateurcritic.

For post-career Callas devotees only

[RES55 · 1/10 · 16 June 2019]

Callas was, almost without question, the greatest singing *musician* of the 20th century, not a "singer" or "singing actress" (a term that damns with faint praise), but a transcendent artist. This film doesn't deal with that Callas. It focuses exclusively on the details of personal mismanagement that she would never have wanted aired, being, by nature, a very private person. It includes some new footage, but it's all presented chaotically, mismatching music to visuals, jumping back and forth in time by years; it's exhausting.

Well-known extant concert footage, all from after the zenith of her great career, is colorized needlessly. It is a moving elegy but manipulative of the viewer's emotions; it tugs at our heart strings in a way Callas would have found embarrassing and irritating. In life, Callas was tough--as musicians have to be, and all that interested her were the nuts-and-bolts details of the music itself. In the unmentioned, important Juilliard master classes that she taught in 1971, there is a famous moment that is emblematic of the real Callas: a mezzo-soprano makes a histrionic gesture with her voice in Azucena's Act II aria from Verdi's IL TROVATORE. Callas stops her and asks "What was that?" The student replies "It was a cry of despair." Callas responds "It's not a cry of despair. It's a B-flat."

To the film's credit, there are a few full musical selections (even if colorized jarringly), though it has its share of annoyingly tantalizing snippets. To its detriment, nothing, but nothing, is identified properly and the chronological roller-coaster ride that is 'Maria by Callas' will leave at sea anyone without an encyclopedic knowledge of the woman's unfortunate post-career private life. The director also shows his amazing naivete by using only Callas' version of events; she was quite self-serving and the facts of various matters are often very different from the way she wanted to present them.

Why do film makers only seem to concentrate on Callas "the woman," "the star," "the diva," "the tragic figure," rather than the super-serious, perfectionist artist who set the world of music on fire beginning in 1949 and altered forever the way we listen? It's apparently because they have no idea how to talk about music nor have any interest in what Callas was really about.

MARIA: CHAMPAGNE, COGNAC, COCA-COLA... PURE DIVANESS!

[babyjaguar · 8/10 · 5 December 2018]

Once in the height of the press media exploiting the supposedly rivalry between singers, Callas and Renata Tebadli, Callas was quoted (on comparing herself to the other singer) that it was like "comparing champagne to cognac". Tom Volf's debut documentary follows Callas's professional/personal life through its ups and downs by wonderfully, spooling in between her most famous "arias" performances.

It focuses on using archived TV interviews and scenes of "paparazzi" swarms but keeps a sharp focus on her early 50's career accomplishments until her untimely death in the mid 70s. Her early NYC childhood story and late adulthood Parisian isolation were only shown thru her interviews and the usage of a off-screen narrator reading Callas's letters and memoirs.

It also displayed her "Tigress" temperament towards the harsh reality of the Opera world as a booming recording industry and its societal environments. Volf's documentary subtlety unveils her own decadence of solitude dealing with a vocal declination and an endless love for Aristotle Socrates Onassis. A must-see for Opera lovers, truly amazing!

BRAVA! BRAVA! BRAVA!

[antoniocassone2013 · 10/10 · 21 June 2019]

Soft, thunderous and triumphant rise; hard, long and heartbreaking fall. A true diva; an icon, a lady and a legend. It isn't about the years of your career; it is the career in your years. And OMG - What a legacy! Absolutely magnificent! Really interesting that the film/story is all told from her point of view. BRAVA!

Beautiful

[ikoanviolinist-10697 · 9/10 · 14 August 2020]

Maria Callas "La Divina" simply one of a kind and a legend that will always be reminded in the soul of the music.

Callas would have loved this documentary!

[Red-125 · 8/10 · 23 December 2018]

Maria by Callas (2017) was directed by Tom Volf. The title tell the tale: in an interview with David Frost, Maria Callas tells us that there are two people within her. One is Maria, who would love to be a dutiful wife and mother. The other is Callas who owed it to opera lovers to sing for audiences all over the world.

From the film, it's hard to know if Callas is being honest, or just spinning a tale she wants us to believe. My thought is that Callas was always "on." Everything she wrote, and everything she said in interviews was filtered through her consciousness before the words appeared. We'll never know the truth.

Callas would have loved this documentary, because everything is told from her point of view. According to Callas, she was always victimized by jealous competitors. People criticized her for missing important concert appearances, but she was sick. Aristotle Onassis left her for Jacqueline Kennedy, but then he came back to her at the end. Her fans never stopped loving her. She triumphed against all odds. Of course there were opposing opinions, but they don't appear in the film.

This documentary worked for me because we were able to hear Callas singing complete arias. (When you think of it, many documentaries--even about performing artists--give you just snippets of their work.) And, of course, Callas may well have been the greatest soprano of the 20th Century. (I don't like to use the word "arguably," but it would fit here.) It's interesting to know what she was like, even though we just learn what she wants to tell us.

We saw this film at Rochester's excellent Little Theatre. It will work well on the small screen.

If you're an opera lover, you can't miss it. If you're not an opera lover, I think it's still worth finding and viewing.

disappointing

[m_white · 3/10 · 12 December 2018]

The film brings almost nothing new to the subject, rehashes old material, and includes long sections of her performances and interviews that are available on YouTube. There are a few snippets from her private letters and some home movie footage, which are fun to see, but hardly add up to ten minutes of content. Instead it's mostly a series of shots of her wading through a sea of journalists and fans, interspersed with performance footage. Although it's great fun to see her public persona, the wonderful costumes, the self-conscious posing for the cameras, the film actually tells us nothing about the real Maria. Instead, the focus seems to be that public persona: she was the embodiment of glamor and class. Callas is like a prism: there are so many facets to her. A documentary could focus on so many fascinating elements: her unique talent and musical genius, her reputation as a diva, the viscous Italian claques that conjured up this supposed feud with Tebaldi, her childhood and youth in NY and Athens and her relationship with her family, her relationships with men, her post-retirement years hidden away in Paris, so many others. I was hoping this movie would provide new insight, but was very disappointed.

a billet-doux to our beloved American-Greek soprano

[lasttimeisaw · 8/10 · 13 June 2019]

Any documentary exerts a stratagem that totally constructs its content through its subject's perspective, tends to earn its cachet by a semblance of authenticity, Tom Volf's MARIA BY CALLAS is no exception.

Gleaning and garnering an exhaustive amount of footages of TV interviews, operatic performances, various photos and videos, most of which has never been revealed in public, MARIA BY CALLAS is a billet-doux to our beloved American-Greek soprano, chronologically cruises through her career in glob-trotting venues with her beaming smile often betraying an intrinsic diffidence and feminine sensitivity, and builds the narrative almost exclusively through her own words (TV interview, family videos and private letters, narrated by Joyce DiDonato), except for one short snippet of interview from her teacher Elvira de Hidalgo, who seems to become her only friend when her career and personal live heading to an ineluctable downturn.

For our aural pleasure, Volf cherry-picks the crème-de-la-crème of her vast repertoire: Puccini's MADAME BUTTERFLY and TOSCA, Bellini's NORMA and SONNAMBULA, Verdi's LA TRAVIATA and MACBETH, to accord audience a testimonial of her unimpeachably superlative artistry, particularly in evidence during a rendition of CARMEN's L'AMOUR EST UN OISEAU REBELLE, what makes her name of "La Divina" is not just her tonal perfection and vocal potency, but also a thoroughgoing immersion into her songs and her characters, which makes the whole difference, and in her own words, if played badly, an opera can be very boring. It is obvious Volf eschews any inferior tuneage to mar her repute, there is no showing of her declining voice in her later comeback, which overlays the whole project a tinge of hagiography.

The cynosure of Callas' private lives is of course, her affair with Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis (for whom she divorced from her husband Giovanni Battista Meneghini of ten years), and the hammer blow of the latter's unheralded marriage with Jacqueline Kennedy, rendered with a masterstroke by superimposing Callas' honest and affectionate words laying bare her feelings to Onassis over the imagery of him with his new wife. Only through private letters to her dearest Elvira, we glance the sequela of this seismic switcheroo, as intelligent and talented as Callas herself, she is just another woman victimized by a man's wantonness. Her submissive female nature can overcome any career ambition, but her singular gift is such a double-edged sword, it brings her international fame, wealth and fandom, but also consumes her inwardly, crossing the great divide only at the age of 53 in 1977, it is the downcast side of her story that casts an indelible sigh, even if, that is not entirely the filmmaker's priority.

Maybe the first review I've written.

[john-falconer · 9/10 · 9 January 2023]

This documentary just brought tears to my eyes and love to my heart. It's fabulous. I just loved it!

I love opera and have sung at the sydney opera house in the choir but this documentary just moved me so much.

You have to watch it it. The "personal" conversations with Maria Callas were wonderful. I'm back to Spotify to listent to some of my old opera favourites.

Her life is like an opera tragedy and I knew this but listening to her was just out of this world.

I kept using Shazam to find out if I could listen to the music later. And of course I can!

The production was great. The continued use of the David Frost interview was very very done.

I have always loved Maria Callas but this lifted my interest and admiration tenfold.

Very disappointing

[richard-1787 · 3/10 · 16 December 2018]

I found this movie very disappointing for a number of reasons , few of which will probably interest the real Callas fan.

First, there is no outside narrator , no at least partially objective voice. What we get is truly just Callas' own words , mostly from filmed interviews and occasionally from her letters. (These occasional texts are read by Joyce Di Donato, a great singer in her own right but with a speaking voice that bears no resemblance to Callas's . That's rather off-putting , though I suppose it avoids confusion.) As a result , we get no objective commentary when Callas presents her own version of different episodes in her life. That makes this of little use as biography.

Second, we get a lot of unidentified or only partially identified footage, which is frustrating for anyone who is actuallly interested in learning something about Callas' life. As one example out of many: we see scenes from her late career tour with Giuseppe di Stefano, but we never hear what the critics had to say about it. (They were evidently both in bad voice.)

In short , this movie is only what the title states : Maria Callas as she wanted to be seen. For the Callas fan who has read a lot about her and knows what the issues were, I guess that's fine. But this movie would definitely make a very misleading introduction to the phenomenon that was Callas in the third quarter of the last century.

A chore to sit through

[wyrzykowskikajetan · 3/10 · 24 February 2018]

"Maria Callas" is a documentary feature that is more-or-less depiction of the career of a famous opera starlet.

The director of the film Tom Volf, praises the protagonist at every step. Maria is basically his muse. The entire documentary is dictated by her omnipresent dreaminess. The script moves forward without haste, slowly painting the vivid landscape of spotlight, cameras and ovations.

Despite this inspiring form, "Maria Callas" is surprisingly flat.

Volf maniacally impersonates Callas with her stage silhouette. Even when he tries to give her more depth, it is far from an insightful look. The bits of her life are either interviews or shots from her tours. This short-sighted approach limits the film's speech power in a great deal.

The problem might also lie in the protagonist herself. Callas - at least according to Volf's depiction - is extremely selfish. She never really moves too far away from this overwhelming egocentrism. Even when speaking about the love of her life, it is imbued with selfishness. She elaborates on her diva life with occasional sadness resonating. And Volf direction is very much praising that self-loving approach. With every second shot of Callas surrounded by jostling journalists or reminiscing a goddess in one of her apartments, Volf makes this character suffocate.

It might be rooted in Callas herself, as well as Volf's imperfect direction. Either way, "Maria Callas" is far from a heart-piercing, moving biopic. It deliberately limits the world presented. It's flashy in form and shallow in the substance.

Callas by Volf

[harril-586-26745 · 2/10 · 13 August 2021]

The documentary offers no new insights into the life of Maria Callas that we can't learn by watching her YouTube videos. Two things which pretty well negate the meaning of the title are the harsh eq on the vocal recordings which gives an unpleasant impression of her voice and also her written words spoken flatly by Joyce DiDonato. MC's interviews reveal an intelligence & intensity that JD fails to convey. These hammy 'readings' have the effect of dampening the emotional impact of how Callas expressed herself. The colourised clips are pretty and it was nice nice to see some comical moments showing her relaxing and having fun. But considering her extraordinary artistry and tragic life, this film failed to honour her with due respect.