It was such an honour to see Angelina Jolie on the big screen again. It took me a while to get used to the spectacle of seeing her perform as Maria Callas, an Opera singer I knew nothing about because I don’t occupy that world, purely because it was great to see Angelina in such a mature role as a mature actress, allowing her to show her vulnerability at this point of her life. I have loved watching her since Girl Interrupted, and this role just seemed so perfect for her. She has brought all sorts of vulnerabilities to the screen over the past decades and does this so well. I had to hold myself back from sobbing at the end of the film in the cinema. I wasn’t the only one crying.
I loved the colour palette of the film, and some of the most intimate scenes reminded me of the melodrama of Carol. The film crew style setup of the film immediately made me think of Gia, and it’s so wonderful to be able to look at those films back-to-back, and Angelina’s portrayal of two iconic and independent women who were just so unique. The blurring between reality and hallucination is so wonderfully done, and I loved the playfulness in the dialogue, forcing you to question what was actually going on. The costumes and hair are absolutely remarkable. And of course there’s a lot of singing as one would expect, but it is not a musical. It was really quite wonderful to be able to have watched this in a cinema near Covent Garden, where Maria Callas had once performed. Everything about the film was terrific.
What I do want to highlight is that I was surprised at the connection with JFK, Jackie, Marilyn Monroe and there was a particular scene which highlighted a really big problem which is still relevant today in the most horrific way (you’ll know what I’m referring to if you’ve been following the news in France) – the sharing of wives/women as property by the rich and powerful. The notion of women as property does come up twice in the film and I thought that was very timely and well played. Trauma is also explored in relation to Maria’s mother’s abuse of her two daughters, which is depicted as being tied into Maria’s creativity. There was so much sadness in the film, but explored with such a warm lens. Ultimately the film portrays a woman's desire to use her voice to speak up for herself, for her freedom.