While it is too early in the year to reasonably speculate about next March's Academy Awards, one of the major precedents leading the chatter online is that of Maria, being the third of Pablo Larráin's acclaimed 'women in history' biopics. But whereas Jackie and Spencer gave ample opportunity for stars Natalie Portman and Kristen Stewart to demonstrate the full range of their respective gifts, Maria marks a disappointing end to Pablo Larráin trilogy, confining star Angeline Jolie to a solid, but never surprising performance.
The story depicts the final week of Maria's life largely through flashbacks and montages through her glory days, all initiated by the most unusual framing device of her Maria's medication come to life as a hallucinated press interviewer played by Kodi Smit-McPhee. These scenes, otensibly the 'glory days' of her power and influence, struggle due to a perhaps unavoidable technicality; whereas Portman could flex her accent work as Jackie and Stewart had Diana’s pout to a tee, the figure of Maria Callas necessitates Jolie to lip sync through all of the film’s most ostensibly powerful scenes. It’s never as convincing as it needs to be, and Jolie struggles to convey more than teary-eyed trembling in what is essentially a mime role in the moments that matter most.
As if to make it up, the Oscar-hopeful takes impressively measured care in portraying Callas in her quieter, 'present' scenes as a washed-up diva wilfully ignoring her impending doom. From speculating aimlessly about when she may begin performing again to insisting restaurant staff place her where she will simulataneously get the most and least attention, Maria's starlet eccentricities are the element where Jolie most excels. It's a flashy performance, but again not one designed to showcase much more than a sort of melancholic brathood.
Truthfully, the standouts for the film might be Maria's remaining staff, housekeepr Bruna (Alba Rohrwacher) and assistant Ferrucio (Pierfrancesco Favino), who take on the roles of spectators at first bemused but then deeply concerned by their mistress' behaviour and drug abuse. Favino in particular brings considerable pathos to a man who is at once the overly-responsible bane of Maria's existence and her best friend, culminating in one of the film's few moments of true heartbreak as he proudly hears her sing one last time; unlike Jolie, Favino's performance in this scene remains uninhibited, and therefore exceptional.
If Jackie explored through violent melodrama the process of grief for our most public figure, and Spencer reimagined the people’s princess as the Final Girl in a grisly horror, then Maria unfortunately falls short in its insights by lamenting simply that the process of ageing out of your talent is a sad thing indeed, counting on Jolie's performance to add nuance without affording her the runway to make it happen. One hopes that the relative dullness here is only a blip for the typically sensational Larráin, rather than a slope in parallel with his latest title character.
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