Maria

On the morning of September 16, 1977, opera singer Maria Callas was found dead in her Paris home. From there, Maria takes us back to the final week of her life—when she was ill, addicted to sedatives, and drifting between imagination and reality, between memories of her legendary performances on and off stage. With Maria, Pablo Larraín delivers the third installment in his cinematic portraits of iconic 20th-century women, following Jackie (Jackie Kennedy) and Spencer (Princess Diana). Once again, he relies on a powerhouse performance by a leading actress, and once again, cinematic language plays a key role in exploring the heroine’s inner world. This time, the operatic passages—woven into the film like poetic echoes—add profound emotional resonance. It is a portrait of love and compassion, and one well worth watching.