From Regent Releasing
Directed by Franco Zeffirelli
Starring
Fanny Ardant
Jeremy Irons
Joan Plowright
Jay Rodan
Gabriel Garko
Manuel de Blas
A scrawl at the end credits says... the events depicted in this film belong to both the fantasy of the author and the memories of his longstanding friendship with Maria Callas. I think that just about covers it. It is a fictional biography, to a degree, but it more than compensates because the author, in this case also the director, Franco Zeffirelli, more than captures the various facets of the great diva's colorful personality. I thought it was a terrific film.
Zeffirelli was a great opera buff and scholar and he produced and directed a number of Callas' greatest performances on the stage. Zeffirelli's original story and his co-written screenplay want us to know right off that she was mourning for her lost voice, her career and her relationship with Aristotle Onassis (who dumped her for Jacqueline Kennedy, doncha know?)
She is holed up in her luxurious Paris apartment seeing virtually no one but her maid. Her withdrawal and newly-minted fragility has her concert promoter-friend Larry concerned. He visits her (although she lashes out at him for doing so) because he has come up with an idea that will help her get back into life.
He wants her to make a series of filmed operas and informs her that since she's been hiding out new technologies have been developed that will allow her to get her career back. Yelling at him that her voice is no longer acceptable, he tells her she can lip-synch to her own previous recordings. (At the time European musicals were mostly lip-synched.) Still formidable, emotional and imperious as always, he sees how proud she is and how lonely and miserable when she tells him to get lost. She kicks him out.
Larry, however, is not taking no for an answer. Hey, you know there's no movie otherwise, right? He returns and begs her, putting his own saucy temperament on hold.
Along the way we meet Larry's artist boyfriend who will one day move Callas to tears with his paintings. We also meet her wildly handsome and younger leading man who will star opposite her in the first production, Carmen, and stokes the fires still burning in her. No one is more surprised than she is.
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| The real Callas with Zeffirelli |
If one is not an opera buff (and I am not although I am not lacking interest either), there is probably no opera more robust, colorful (think red) and festive that Bizet's stunning work, considered one of the greats of all time. If moviegoers are to hear an opera during a story on Callas (and mustn't one?), we should give thanks to Zeffirelli for making it this one.
We see Callas come back to life. She believes in herself again, stops taking her unnecessary prescriptions, is warm with the press and happy to be seen out in public in her pretty outfits. But one day she makes a feeble attempt at coming on to her leading man and he rejects her which sends her into an emotional tailspin.
Ultimately she calls what she's doing fake and says she doesn't want to continue with it. Larry tries to get her to continue beyond Carmen but the lady is adamant. What will continue is their great friendship and we get that if she's not going to continue with a musical career, she's also not going back to staying holed up in her apartment.
The one thing to treasure most about this film is the incandescent performance of its leading lady, France's Fanny Ardant. Not only does she resemble Callas, but according to Zeffirelli, he taught her every physical movement he could think of to properly portray his great friend. Ardant completely captures Callas's temperament, her barking of orders and insistence on being obeyed and her regal nature. She could charm a vulture off a kill if she chose to. It is a dazzling performance, no doubt helped by the fact that she had earlier played Callas in the play Master Class.
When I like Irons, I really like him and I thought he was most engaging as the man who wants to see his friend return to prominence more than he wants to make a buck. His pony-tailed promoter went through all sorts of emotions to get Callas to respond. Being the screen version of the real-life man who is, in fact, directing you required a great energy that Irons was able to pull off. His scenes with Ardant are steeped in the comfort of two actors who work well together. Prior to Callas Forever, Irons and Ardant costarred in Swann in Love (1984) and Australia (1989).
Four other cast members also hit their marks. The always-delightful Joan Plowright is a journalist who seems to be assigned mostly to cover Callas. The two are loving friends and amusingly the journalist is every bit as tough as the diva.
Jay Rodan is effective as Larry's restless painter-lover. Gabriel Garko, whose looks reminded me at times of Terrence Stamp in Billy Budd, is sexy as Carmen's leading man. Manuel de Blas is properly flustered as the director of Carmen.
Bravo to Chanel for the beautiful costumes made for Ardant for her street wear. What a look!
In the beginning of the film, Callas is heard listening to her own recording of Un bel di from Madame Butterfly (before she breaks into sobs) and it's quite the glorious experience for me.
The American-born Greek was blessed with divine gifts and this is Zeffirelli's heartfelt poem to her. I loved the film and I would imagine Callas fans did, too.
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