Pablo Larraín (Jackie, Spencer) once again focuses on a woman who left her mark on the twentieth century. In Maria, we meet Maria Callas in her tormented last days, when she has stopped performing but is trying to regain her voice. Cared for in a golden cage by her cook and butler, Maria spends her days prisoner to the twilight between past and present, hallucinations and memories.

Maria is the portrait of a resilient, intelligent woman who, as an artist, managed to rise above a world full of greedy vultures. Larraín and Jolie bring to life the key moments of Callas’ bigger than life existence: from the hardships of World War II, her breakthrough in 1949 to her relationship with Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis.

Maria is the final part of Pablo Larraín’s trilogy about tragic divas. Earlier, he made films about Jackie Kennedy (Jackie) and Lady Diana Spencer (Spencer). Angelina Jolie learnt to sing opera for the role of Callas. At the world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, the actress confessed that she actually likes punk more than opera, but ‘when you get older and pain and love pile up, sometimes you need a bit more.’