MovieChat Forums > Callas Forever (2002) Discussion > French Accent

French Accent

posted 17 years ago by romanitis
6 replies | jump to latest

Just bought this film on DVD and thought it beautifully shot and well-acted ... As a Callas fan, though, it bothered me that the actress playing her sounded very little like her -- that is, unless Maria had a very heavy French accent I somehow missed. In all the interviews I've ever seen, the real Callas had a very distinctive American accent -- albeit corrupted by many years spent in Europe -- but nothing approaching the sometimes hard-to-understand Ardant. On the plus side, Ardant really does resemble Callas -- especially when Zefferelli throws a pair of sunglasses over her face and puts her in a wide-brimmed Chanel hat ...

[–] Nora-67 17 years ago

I watched this movie last night, and thought exactly the same as you did...the accent was wrong and sometimes even hard to understand...Callas was born and raised in the U.S. and English was her mother tongue...

[–] Noir-It-All 16 years ago

They got Callas' hair right, at least. Maria Callas seemed to have had phenomenal hair.

"Two more swords and I'll be Queen of the Monkey People." Roseanne

[–] anasassaad 16 years ago

Ok i am a CARMEN fan. not a Maria Callas fan.... i like Mria anyway... epecially that i have heard that celine dion my fav will play her in a movie later next year...

i think fanny was trying to include a GREEK accent not a french one.... am i correct?

[–] Noir-It-All 16 years ago

Yes, it should have been a Greek accent from what I understand.

"Two more swords and I'll be Queen of the Monkey People." Roseanne

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] melnar1 11 years ago

Let me qualify that by saying that Maria Callas spoke English with an American accent, having been born and grew up there (until around the age of 14 anyway) and certainly not with a foreign accent.