The Lonely Last Days of Maria Callas: Angelina Jolie nails tragic life of opera singer in Netflix's 'Maria'
Angelina Jolie is currently garnering praise for her role in 'Maria', a biographical film based on America's one of the influential opera singers, Maria Callas. Following its premiere at Venice International Film Festival on August 29, the film was released in limited theatres in the United States on November 27.
With digital rights acquired by Netflix, the film be available for streaming on December 11. With her piercing gaze and magnetic presence, Angelina Jolie feels like the right choice, as if she was destined to play the Callas. The film captures the singer's final days in Paris in 1977, offering viewers a peek into her life of soaring highs and crushing lows.
Maria Callas had a troubled childhood
Maria Callas was one of the most renowned opera singers of the 20th century. She wasn't just a singer. Her raw talent and emotional depth made her stand out in the world of music which earned her the title 'La Divine'. But she wasn't born a diva. Her early life was full of hardships. Callas's birth in 1923 was a disappointment to her Greek parents, who were hoping for a boy. Her childhood was stolen from her when her mother recognized her singing potential, and made her practice for hours every day, with relentless pressure and no love.
During her teens, Callas had already made her professional debut. And then, there was no going back. She was a revolution on stage, with her voice breathing life into every performance.
Maria Callas's life off-stage was far from perfect
While Callas was achieving great heights in her career as an opera singer, her personal life was suffering one hit after the other. Betrayals and heartache broke her in such a way that she could never recover.
In one of the letters, she wrote how her husband Giovanni Battista Meneghini used her for his own benefit. “My husband is still pestering me after having robbed me of more than half my money by putting everything in his name since we were married … I was a fool … to trust him," she wrote.
Even her relationship with Aristotle Onassis turned out to be tragic for her. Lyndsy Spence, in a biography, claimed Onassis used to drug and assault Callas. “There is also disturbing information from the diary of one of her close friends detailing how Onassis drugged her, mostly for sexual reasons – today we would class that as date rape," she told, as per The Guardian.
“I wouldn’t want him [Onassis] to phone me and start again torturing me,” Callas once wrote to her secretary. After being together for many years, he left her to marry Jacqueline Kennedy. The public humiliation broke her into pieces. Ultimately, her health and confidence began to wane.
Maria Callas was lonely in her final years
The final hit happened when Callas began to lose the most precious thing in her life- her voice. Loss of physical strength led to massive vocal problems. Her aura and charm were beginning to fade away. By 1974, after her final recital in Sapporo, Japan, Callas withdrew from public life.
Though millions of people adored her for her latent, there was not a single soul on whom she could rely! She spent her final years in isolation in Paris. On September 16, 1977, she died at 53 due to a heart attack.
The world still remembers her for her passionate singing. Netflix's 'Maria', however, isn't about how great she was professionally; it's more about the pain, loneliness, and betrayal she endured to the point where her heart couldn't take it anymore.
'Maria' trailer
'Maria' will arrive on Netflix on Wednesday, December 11
