Since Zeffirelli knew Maria Callas in person, or was even friends with her, I was wondering, if some parts of the film reflected reality or at least his wish or dream to help Callas make a comeback in the 70s? Larry could be a stand-in for Zeffirelli...
Maybe he tried to persuade her too to make an attempt at a comeback in films?
I wondered the same thing.
Was the portrayal of Maria herself quite accurate even if the rest of the story was fiction?
Hello. Fellow fan of Maria Callas here and of Franco Zefferelli's movies. My immediate impression after viewing the film was that this movie is of the "What Might Have Been " type. Certainly, in actual life, Zefferelli was quite intimate with Callas as a friend and director. Callas benefited from his award winning and elaborate set designs and art direction. He directed her in a Dallas La Travita and in Tosca. Traviata and Tosca are considered her best roles. It is possible that Zefferelli intended to bring her back into the limelight after a long absence back in 1977. By this time, he was a well known and successful director of film (Taming Of The Shrew with Elizabeth Taylor 1968's Romeo and Juliet, Brother Sun in the 70's and other films). Maybe he did want to have her act in a film. The only movie Callas ever did was a silent film of the Cherubini opera Medea in 1970, but it's very obscure and little known. But Callas completely isolated herself from a social life immediately after the death of Oristatle Onaissis her ex husband. She would have refused to meet with Zefferelli nor would she have allowed him to visit her in her Paris apartment. She was'nt seeing anyone at all. It's quite a tragic true story how her life ironically paralleled the tragic plots of the operas she performed in. But this movie is a nice fantasy of Zefferelli in which he was able to save her.
share"The only movie Callas ever did was a silent film of the Cherubini opera Medea in 1970…blablabla".
And what Cherubini and his opera have in common with this movie? It is Pasolini's adaptation of well known Euripides tragedy.
"But Callas completely isolated herself from a social life immediately after the death of Oristatle Onaissis her ex husband".
Even toddlers know that Aristotle Onassis (Oristatle? :) Onaissis? :)) has never been her husband, and that's where all her tragedy came from.
"FloatinOpera7" you must be a great fellow fun of Maria Callas.
Wrong. Callas was in Pasolini's Medea, which she was thoroughly disappointed with after making it (it's bizarre). Zefferelli was after her to make a film version of "Tosca" when she could still song in all her glory, but largely due to Onasis, she did not. It would have been a very good movie, according to her biographers and Zefferelli's conception. This film reminded me of Zefferelli's wish to do that film. Mostly, though, I thought the movie was shallow and its script was pathetic. I though Fanny Ardant was good though.
shareI thought the movie was shallow and its script was pathetic. I though Fanny Ardant was good though.
I had hoped that this was going to be good, but perhaps my expectations were too high, because I was terribly disappointed. I think you have summed it up for me more or less exactly. Ardant was very good, but I found the script trite, untruthful and posturing. I was amazed that someone who had known her could have exploited the woman for such an exercise in phony melodramatics. And so it was ironic that the script accused the press of being vampiric when it struck me that it was Zeffireli himself who was being, well, not a vampire, more a vulture. Joan Plowright and Jeremy Irons both gave, to put it mildly, unconvincing performances.
Gabriel Garko and Jay Rodan were decorative though.
{Edited for, inter alia, stupidly confusing Visconti and Zeffirelli. Sheesh.)
Boy, was I drunk last night...
I doubt Zefferelli would have wanted her to make a "comeback" after that disastrous tour she did in 1977 - unless it was as described in the movie, using her old voice. It wasn't just that Callas voice was completely trashed, it was that she'd lost all of her self-confidence and her nerve.
Callas' voice, I'm quite sure, wasn't damaged, but she was in desperate need of a good teacher and probably to switch to a lower repertoire, such as Carmen. Her voice past a certain point had big problems and they only got worse. Plus, as one ages, they lose some top notes anyway. If she had retrained, with the help of recording techniques, she could have recorded different rep and done it beautifully. Perhaps Eboli - she would have been tremendous.
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Thanks, Rex for your excellent analysis. What I was thinking of in my post was hearing her sing "O Mio Babbino Caro" using mostly chest voice. I have no idea where or why 1977 came into my head. I did know that she recorded some mezzo arias; also, Santuzza can and is often sung by a dramatic soprano. In fact I sang it myself.
What I want to know from you is what you think of the Onassis dead baby business chronicled in a book that came out some years ago now. I'm not an expert on Callas and would like to hear some theories. I work with biographers and I know many times, once a person is deceased, publishers will let writers say just about anything since the dead can't sue.
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