Maria (2024) on Netflix
In 1977 Paris, opera singer Maria Callas lives with her butler Ferruccio and housekeeper Bruna, trying to sing again after years away from the stage. A television crew comes to interview her.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb6.4/1025,894 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes76%
Trailer
Plot summary
Maria Callas lives in a Paris apartment in 1977 with her butler Ferruccio and her housekeeper Bruna. Her opera career has been on hold for years because of her health, and she is trying to sing again. Ferruccio presses her to see a doctor and to take her medication as prescribed; she keeps overusing Mandrax, which she says helps her. She tells the two of them that a television crew is coming to interview her, and a young filmmaker named Mandrax arrives. During the week she also attends private sessions with the conductor Jeffrey Tate to find out whether she can perform again. The interviews set her remembering her love affair with Aristotle Onassis, who married Jackie Kennedy.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Maria (2024)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- For the scenes set during Maria Callas's heyday, an estimated 90 to 95 percent of Callas's original recordings were used, with Angelina Jolie lip-synching along to the songs; Jolie's own singing takes over in the film's final act.
- Angelina Jolie spent seven months training to sing opera for the role and was so anxious about her voice that her vocal coach Eric Vetro recalls her breaking into tears at one point.
- The scenes set on Aristotle Onassis's yacht Christina O were filmed on the actual vessel, which was rented for the production.
- The producers said no new fur was sourced for Jolie's Callas costumes, which came from costume designer Massimo Cantini Parrini's archive collection and involved consultation with animal rights groups such as PETA; Parrini created 60 dresses for Jolie.
