Callas Forever (2002) User Reviews (48)

Diva Fantasy Salvaged by Real Opera Production and an Inspired Ardant

[EUyeshima · 5/10 · 5 March 2006]

Gallic actress Fanny Ardant is an inspired choice to play Maria Callas, and with her uncanny physical and likely temperamental resemblance, she plays the legendary soprano with real brio and scenery-chewing style. I would not have expected anything less in such a fanciful telling of a what-if scenario that sprouted out of director Franco Zeffirelli's fertile imagination. Zeffirelli is no stranger to the extravagant and visually resplendent as he helmed the Burtons-at-play 1967 "The Taming of the Shrew" and the much-beloved, age-appropriate 1968 version of "Romeo and Juliet". His long-time professional relationship with Callas provides the basis for this fantasy where in 1977, she is drawn out of self-imposed exile and into the limelight one last time by a fictitious concert promoter, Larry Kelly, who had long ago decided to forego opera for the more lucrative world of punk rock. Sporting a silly ponytail, Jeremy Irons portrays Kelly as a predictably irascible character who mercurially worships and degrades her as the circumstance dictates, a variation on the character he would play in "Being Julia". This time, his character is gay, of course, probably to avoid any element of romance that would detract from Callas' obsession with preserving her legacy.

Kelly's idea is to film her while acting out famous operatic roles on a sound stage and lip-synching the words, whereupon sound engineers would graft her recordings of some 22 years earlier onto the sound track. The series is to be called "Callas Forever" and starts with Bizet's "Carmen". After a rapid series of contrived scenes that resuscitate Callas from her Paris apartment seclusion back to international press attention, the film finally catches fire with the scenes that create the opera production itself. This is where Zeffirelli really shines as he makes Ardant look and act strikingly like Callas at her most passionate and charismatic. She is, of course, adored by her colleagues (in particular, an admiring young tenor playing Don Jose, as embodied by Gabriel Garko) and seems on the brink of a renaissance. Alas, it is the completion of this production that inspires Zeffirelli, along with co-writer Martin Sherman, to take the plot to the height of soap opera banality. Basking in her newly reborn confidence, Callas wants to take on Puccini's "Tosca" with her real voice, an idea supported blindly by Kelly but rejected by her backers. Instead of being crushed, she seems resigned to her legacy and insists that her "Carmen" be destroyed as she deems it a fraud.

That she comes to this realization after the fact is one of the central conceits of the film since it implies she has been cavalier about the efforts around her who did believe in her, but I suppose that is what diva behavior is all about. After all, at the beginning, Callas is portrayed as a pill-popper who feels sorry for herself as a has-been, her voice shot during an infamous tour in Japan, and as the rejected paramour of Aristotle Onassis, who cast her aside to marry Jackie Kennedy. Throughout the movie, she is haunted by her former voice with ghostly visions of her stage triumphs. These kinds of excesses seem appropriate to this kind of tribute film, but it all feels so predictably over-the-top. Sadly, Joan Plowright stereotypically plays a music journalist as a wisecracking, truth-bearing confidante that Thelma Ritter would have played with greater aplomb in the fifties. There is a persistent clunkiness to Zeffirelli and Sherman's screenplay and an overall lack of subtlety that can only be blamed on Zeffirelli's heavily ornate, Baroque film-making style. The DVD is short on extras as there is no audio commentary track, but it does include a brief making-of featurette, additional interview excerpts with Zeffirelli and the principal players and several trailers including the one for the movie.

An Opportunity Again Missed

[belcanto26 · 6/10 · 28 July 2005]

Maria Callas was an artist of such magnitude that it seems impossible for any filmed biography to do her justice. Besides, who could really play Maria Callas? Well, the actress featured here does as well as anyone else could, which is, I guess, adequate. Of much greater importance is the banality of the story. I can't imagine Maria Callas in the 1970's even considering doing what the film suggests. By 1965, it was painfully obvious that Callas, despite her glamorous image and appearance, could never, even at age 41, have reconstructed her once fabulous voice, a voice which in its prime could accomplish miracles. In any case, it is folly to suggest that Callas would have elected to do a film version of "Carmen" ( a role she never cared for) with a dubbed recording she had made years earlier. I could see "Norma", "Tosca" or "Traviata", but never "Carmen". Larry Kelly actually died several years before Callas, so his presence here is pure fiction ------- which is what the film actually is. As a way to pass 108 minutes, the film is adequate, but if you're looking for a documentation of Maria Callas in her final years, you will have to keep looking. I doubt whether you will ever find what you are looking for because it seems highly unlikely that the real Callas, ever the elusive firefly, will ever be captured and preserved.

Not The Disaster That Rumour Has It...

[dwingrove · 2 September 2004]

Beautifully acted, intelligently written and criminally neglected by critics and distributors (it wasn't even released in the UK or USA) Callas Forever is a haunting and poignant study of the sacrifices an artist makes for her art. The director Franco Zeffirelli based much of it on his own 25-year friendship with the lady herself. Still, this is anything but a straightforward biopic. In a fictional story set during the last few months of the diva's life, Zeffirelli plays a tantalising game of "What if..?"

It's the spring of 1977, and Maria Callas - the world's most famous opera star - is now a recluse in Paris. A tragic cross between Garbo and Norma Desmond, she spends her life popping pills, fighting off bad dreams and listening to recordings of her voice at its glorious peak. Fanny Ardant does a stunning impersonation of the Callas voice and mannerisms. She even looks uncannily like her (apart from the odd awkward shot where she looks like Nana Mouskouri!) But her private hell is disrupted by the arrival of an old friend...

Larry Kelly (Jeremy Irons) is a flamboyant gay impresario, complete with pony-tail! He's just had the brainwave of matching recordings of Callas in her prime with movie versions of her greatest opera hits. First up is Carmen, and this film-within-a-film (a riot of dancing gypsies, dashing matadors and floating lace mantillas) is easily the highlight of the show. We also get not one but two tragic love stories - Maria's unrequited passion for a hunky young tenor (Gabriel Garko) and Larry's doomed affair with a cute young painter (Jay Rodan).

At the end, Larry and Maria sit on a park bench and muse on how they have Sacrificed Their Lives For Their Art. Was it worth it? When the final result is as touching and lyrical as Callas Forever...well, most definitely, yes. Provided, of course, the public gets a chance to see it!

Not all that bad, but not very good either

[oliver-177 · 6/10 · 5 November 2005]

This is an odd movie, fairly opulent looking, yet barely released.

A gay rock music promoter named Larry Kelly (I wonder if the REAL Larry Kelly, who started the Dallas Opera and worked with Callas, is still alive) is also a friend of recluse Maria Callas. He talks Callas into starring in a movie of Carmen, using her 13 year old recording as a soundtrack. She is difficult, but superb. The Carmen movie is a big success, but Maria feels uncomfortable with the concept and asks Larry to withdraw the film.

Fanny Ardant is pretty good, but too variable. She swings from crotchety to alluring in a matter of seconds. You don't see much behind that beautiful mask. Anne Bancroft or Audrey Hepburn might have been better if the project had been done earlier and written better... Jeremy Irons is wince inducing: it is always unpleasant to watch an actor trying to make something out of nothing - the character of Larry is simply one-dimensional. Joan Plowright brings commonsense - a rare commodity in this film - to her few scenes.

A few moments linger: Ardant, as Callas-Carmen, smoking a thin cigar before throwing her flower at José. Callas starting to seduce a hunky tenor, but thinking better of it after a little kiss.

It is all very bizarre: outrageous Chanel product placement, saccharine gay subplot ( awww, the young boyfriend got a hearing aid so that he could hear Callas LPs), hideous punk rock music under the credits... and as others have remarked, the characters live in 1977, but the look is 2000.

Basically yet another example of Zeffirellian effects without causes.

Zeffirelli's dream

[fd60 · 7/10 · 23 September 2002]

Fanny Ardant play very well a difficult role. Maria Callas had a strong personality and the Zeffirelli's work helps to understand the psychology of a woman at the end of the career searching for her tranquillity. In my opinion this movie is the dream of a friend of Maria Callas that wanted the singer return to the scene after the end of an incredible voice. The friend is Franco Zeffirelli. The last words of Maria/Fanny in the movie let to understand Maria Callas never wanted to accept the Zeffirelli's propose to come back to the scene even in different way.

Dressed to kill by Chanel

[jotix100 · 7/10 · 12 November 2004]

This film arrives two years after it was released in Europe. Frankly one doesn't know who to blame for a movie that leaves the viewer confused about who the real Maria Callas was. Franco Zeffirelli should have known better. He was around when Callas was at the peak of her career. To team up with Martin Sherman in this shameful travesty it's a betrayal to her memory.

The thing that comes clearly in the film is Maria Callas' sense of professionalism and perfectionism she asked of herself and the ones involved in any project she undertook. Alas, what we watch is the sad final days of a woman who threw everything away for the love of Ari Onassis, who didn't deserve.

Fanny Ardant, at times looks like Maria, but there is a problem with her distinct French accent because we all know Maria Callas was born in New York and her command of English, was impeccable. Jeremy Irons also appears as the manager.

To catch the art of Maria Callas at her best, one must check "Medea" directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini. Callas comes across as the great actress that she was.

Zeffirelli fantasy, an insult to Callas

[RES55 · 1/10 · 12 November 2018]

I just re-watched the 'Callas Forever' DVD, and was somehow more incensed than when I first saw and dismissed it. There is nothing right about this catastrophe of a film.

One needs to know some background. In 1964, Franco Zeffirelli directed the brilliant but vocally depleted Callas in famous productions of TOSCA and NORMA at Covent Garden and the Paris Opera, her re-emergence on the opera stage after several years spent with Aristotle Onassis, their relationship having become strained. In late 1964, on the heels of these productions' success, Zeffirelli suggested a film of TOSCA, so Callas participated in a recording of what she believed to be the soundtrack for it on EMI (now issued by Warner Classics which bought the bankrupt EMI in the first decade of the 21st century). She also advanced Zeffirelli $10,000 for startup costs. Zeffirelli, however, had not done his homework, and soon discovered that the rights to film TOSCA had been acquired from its publisher, Ricordi, by conductor Herbert von Karajan, who insisted on conducting the film Zeffirelli planned to direct. Callas assumed she would use the soundtrack she had already recorded, conducted by Georges Pretre, her preferred conductor at the time, and refused to re-do it with Karajan, so the project collapsed. The EMI recording thus became her second, and unnecessary, TOSCA recording; the first was made in 1953, and is generally considered to be amongst the greatest opera recordings--though, interestingly, Callas disliked TOSCA. The 1964 recording is clearly a soundtrack, with all sorts of sound effects. She is in the poor voice of that period. When the project was derailed, she requested her $10,000 back from Zeffirelli but he had spent it and could not repay her. Having grown up poor and being very money-conscious, Callas was furious and ended her friendship with him. When she died of a heart attack at age 53 on 16 September 1977, Zeffirelli was overcome with guilt for the rest of his life for having cheated and subsequently avoided her, thereafter making numerous attempts at atonement through writings and documentaries about Callas. This dreadful fictionalized film is his most appalling attempt. It is about Zeffirelli's guilt, not about Callas, who is portrayed insultingly and absurdly inaccurately--a rather unbelievable deficiency, given that Zeffirelli knew her well. If I could give it no stars, I would, but I am constrained to give it at least one.

Over twenty years before the action of this film, Zeffirelli had made many unsuccessful attempts at persuading Callas to film her roles while in her prime. Callas always refused, disliking the idea of filming opera because of the vast disparities between the two media. Therefore, the premise of this film--her agreeing to make a film of CARMEN in 1977 where she lip-syncs to her 1964 EMI CARMEN recording, by which point Callas was already vocally troubled, is entirely idiotic. In the Jeremy Irons' character who comes up with this nonsensical idea, we are intended to read a bizarre version of Zeffirelli himself; the character is named 'Larry Kelly', who in real life, was one of the managers of the Chicago Opera during Callas' great years in the mid 1950s and Callas' professional friend--adding confusion; I note that in the DVD's 'Making of' documentary, he is referred to as "Larry *Clark*". The real Lawrence Kelly had died before this film was made; otherwise, I have little doubt that that he would have been very annoyed.

The film upends everything we know about Callas. She was unsentimental and did not sob while listening to her own recordings. She remained an inventive, professional musician to the last day of her life. She *never* stopped practicing--we even have private recordings of her singing while accompanying herself at the piano (she was an excellent pianist) from a month before her death. Yet the Irons character disgustingly accuses her of neglecting music, as evidenced by his observation that her 'piano is out of tune', another example of Zeffirelli not doing his homework--just as with his poor preparation for the aborted 1964 TOSCA film. Callas, the ultimate professional musician, would have been furious at this inaccuracy. If Callas had ever performed CARMEN on stage, it would not have looked at all as it does here: she was known for her very economical stage movements. When asked about acting in 1968, she said: 'When you want to know how to act on stage, all you have to do is *listen* to the music; the composer has already seen to it. If you really listen with your soul and with your ears, you will find every gesture there'.

Fanny Ardant couldn't be less like Callas if she had tried; perhaps she is a good actress in other things, but she was absolutely the wrong choice and Zeffirelli was of no help. Callas, the second child of Greek immigrants to the US, grew up in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan; she always had traces of a New York accent, even when she tried to disguise it. Ardant's French-accented English, which Zeffirelli apparently didn't notice because he has an Italian accent, is ridiculous. Ardant's speaking voice and manner are not even in the same galaxy with the real Callas; this is, once again, poor preparation on Zeffirelli's part--and Ardant's, and it's especially unprofessional, careless, and irresponsible because there are so many films and tapes, both public and private, of interviews with Callas at every stage of her life--that Zeffirelli certainly knew and to which both of them would have had easy access in 2002. Ardant doesn't look like the strikingly individual and iconic Callas; she is too short and wide-faced; throughout the film, it is especially unsettling to see famous photos of Callas in which her face has been replaced by Ardant's. Zeffirelli dresses her in clothes of a style she had only worn fifteen years earlier. In the 1970s, she wore her hair in a graceful chignon, not messy and free-flowing as we see here; Callas was a notably super-organized and self-controlled person. And what Zeffirelli has her doing in this terrible film is so far from the real Callas that it's almost impossible to catalog the embarrassing mistakes--and this from a man who knew and worked with her during her great years in the 1950s and '60s. It's disgraceful and perplexing, really unforgivable for someone like Zeffirelli. In the 'Making of' documentary, one can tell that Jeremy Irons was ashamed of the result, as well he should have been.

The film's only asset is that audience members can hear a few arias from Callas' great EMI recordings--'Casta diva' from NORMA of 1954, 'Oh mio babbino caro' (from GIANNI SCHICCHI) and 'Un bel di'' (from MADAMA BUTTERFLY) in her brilliant 1954 Puccini recital, as well as the 1964 CARMEN--if you can get past the vocal problems of that period. Don't waste 108 minutes on this ludicrous film; the time is infinitely better spent listening to Callas' recordings or watching a good documentary about her: ironically, the best one, 'CALLAS', made for US Public Broadcasting in 1978, is narrated by Zeffirelli.

(by RES, Callas scholar)

A Fitting Crown to a Phenomenal Career: Callas Lives...Almost

[gradyharp · 10/10 · 23 June 2005]

CALLAS FOREVER is a beautifully written, tenderly directed and acted tribute to the immortal Maria Callas by a man who knew her as well as anyone - Franco Zeffirelli. The fantasy of placing Callas on film for posterity in the last year of her life, the year she died of heart failure, when her voice was gone but her artistry remained is the means by which Zeffirelli memorializes the Diva and in every way he succeeds.

The year is 1977 and Maria Callas (Fanny Ardant) is in seclusion in her Paris apartment, grieving over 1) her beloved Aristotle Onassis who left her for Jacqueline Kennedy and then died and 2) her disastrous farewell concert in Japan which ended her magnificent career with a flop. No longer able to sing she lives in the past, listing to her old recordings and taking pills. Only her constant maid Bruna (Anna Lelio) is allowed to comfort her with occasional visits from her warm-hearted publicist Sarah Keller (Joan Plowright).

In Paris for the promotion of a punk group Bad Dreams is Larry Kelley (Jeremy Irons) who has just met and bedded a young artist Michael (Jay Rodan): Kelley had been Callas' agent in her heyday and Michael has been creating paintings inspired by her recordings. Seeing Michael's obsession over Callas whom he has never seen perform forces Kelley to visit Callas, their devotion to each other is 'rekindled' and Kelley proposes a film version of Callas not only to bring her out of her depression but to capitalize on the fact that present and future generations should have a filmed account of the penultimate opera singer of the 20th century.

Callas is recalcitrant at first, not wanting to produce a fraudulent film made using her old recordings dubbed onto the sound track of a current staging, but she finally resolves her hesitancy by granting the filming of 'Carmen', a role she recorded but never played on the stage. Thus the project is launched and Callas is revitalized and happy again, being satisfied with the miracle of technology that allows her to invest her energies in the acting of Carmen while consenting to lip-synch to her old recordings. She even has a say in the casting of the other roles, especially Don Jose - Marco (a very hunky Gabriel Garko, a former model and Mr. Italy!). She retains her temper tantrums and demands for perfection that hallmarked her real career, doing her own dancing, having a say about costumes, etc.

The film is eventually finished and the result is magnificent. There is even some intrigue when Marco shows more than a little interest in her (a hint of the Strauss Marshallin/Octavian encounter). But alas at the end of the film Callas is forced to admit that her youth cannot be regained and decides the film is a 'fraudulent work' is not compatible with her life's devotion to truth in music. She asks Kelley to destroy it. How these two come to grips with their individual lives (Kelley's Michael has left him and he is once again as alone as Callas) is finessed by one of the most tender endings on film.

Fanny Ardant is a miracle as Callas: she inhabits her physically, understands Callas' facial features as she lip-synchs her operas, and seems to be a reincarnation of the Diva. Jeremy Irons gives one of the finest performances of his rich career as the aging gay agent and Joan Plowright adds just the right amount of lightness and grace as Sarah Keller - wise, acerbic, yet supportive of both Callas and Kelley. The scenes of Paris are correctly nostalgic: the sets for 'Carmen' by Carlo Centolavigna create a gold standard for all future true productions of 'Carmen'. The supporting cast is uniformly excellent.

Zeffirelli has succeeded in giving us a memorial to Maria Callas and for that the opera world will be forever grateful. The passages of the many arias used in this film are among the finest versions Callas recorded. Everything about this work is brilliant and it deserves the widest audience possible. Grady Harp

Interesting concept does not quite work

[bandw · 7/10 · 4 March 2010]

This story fictionalizes what *could* have happened in the last year of the life of the great soprano Maria Callas. By 1977, the time of this movie, Callas' voice had realized its best days and she is seen sitting around listening to some of her early recordings and pining over her lost glory. Her former manager and friend, Larry Kelly (Jeremy Irons) is concerned about Maria and wants to bring her out of hiding by having her lip-sync a performance of "Carmen" to a recording she had made, but never performed. In fact, one of the few facts in this film as far as I can tell, Callas did record a complete "Carmen" but never performed it. At first Callas demurs, but then takes a fancy to Kelly's idea.

The highlights of "Callas Forever" are the enactments of scenes from "Carmen" with Fanny Ardant lip-syncing to Callas' recording. These are lavishly done and, rather than make this movie, I wish that director Zeffirelli had done a complete "Carmen" in the style of the enactments. I think that would have been a lasting tribute to Callas and provided us with what a Callas performance might have been like. It was hard for me to understand the fictional Callas' final abandonment of the project, after it had been completed, on the basis that it would have been dishonest. Some famous operas with top-notch performers, like the 1975 film production of "The Marriage of Figaro," (with Kiri Te Kanawa no less) had performers lip-syncing (often poorly so) to a recording they had made. Maybe the idea was that Callas would think it a fraud to perform to a recording she had made over a decade earlier? Or was she afraid she might be too old to play the part at the age of 53? They can do great things with makeup, yes?. But then I am speculating on a speculation.

The story never gelled for me. The side story that has Larry involved in a gay relationship with a young man seemed like just a diversion. Or was it inserted to indicate that Larry had no romantic interest in Callas?

I think that loosely basing a fictionalized story on a real person is a bit dangerous. We are left with not knowing quite what is real and what is fantasy. What are we going to have next, a computerized Marlon Brando losing 200 pounds to come back in his latter years to play "King Lear?"

Anyway, on the positive side there is an ample sampling of Callas' recordings for us to appreciate why she is considered one of the best sopranos of the twentieth century.

Let Me Hate This Movie Forever !

[elshikh4 · 1/10 · 6 April 2008]

So what was the meaning of writing all of those fictionalized events to ascribe them to the legendary singer's last stage?

Did they want to say how the artist's life is just a truth in illusionary frame? Or that any artiest has only one timed opportunity to be creative, and after its end there will be no more ingenuity?!, or that love can destroy an artiest utterly (her love story with Onassis)?, or that any attempt to ruminate the lost youth is impossible (the relationship between her and the young actor)? Is it about how sincere (Callas) was when she refused to complete the hoax, and demanded to terminate the movie within the movie? So being that sincere to reality, why rather they didn't terminate (Callas Forever) itself??

Well, the real question which buzzes in my head all the time, and maybe I'll sleep better if I find its answer, is WHY did they make this whole absurd movie in the first place?!!, what kind of possible concept could be expressed through this story which never happened?! I have no idea! All what I'm having is just tons of confusion, and even more tons of disgust, not only because of me being that ignorant, but also because of me being that patient to stand all of this antipathetic movie till it ended!

I didn't hate it because it's not understandable, I hated it because it didn't want to be understandable, and I believe that when you finish watching a movie, then give it a lot of thinking, to discover totally nothing about its own meaning or its special message, so this is the definition of a "Bad" movie. Long story short, I'm sorry to who reads right now, because you'll find nothing more than questions, and I'm sorry that you watched that movie too. It's not Callas Forever; it's Confused Forever!

Very beautiful

[LoeGreen · 10/10 · 18 October 2003]

This movie is very beautiful. It's plot is essentially a fantasy by Zeffirelli, revolving around the idea of Callas starring in a film production of Bizet's Carmen, at a time when her life was drawing to it's close and her magnificent voice had been reduced to a painful echo of it's former glory. This setup is completely imaginary - Zeffirelli, of course, being intimate with Callas, having worked with her on a number of productions - and although Callas is at the focal point of the story, one can safely assume that this movie is as much about Zeffirelli himself as it is about the great diva.

The film's main characters - the aging artist, the agent, the film critic - are mainly used to explore themes familiar to those living the life of artistic creation; the fading of creative powers, the meaning of integrity in art, the influence of money and publicity, love and the beauty of youth. This is Zeffireli speaking here, making use of one of the most expressive voices ever heard, to express feelings of his own.

It is is better not to approach this movie guided by expectations of absorbing revealing biographical elements. Though Ardant convincingly depicts the arrogance and overbearing personality which were often present in Callas' behaviour - with a few very convincing tantrums thrown in - there is a sentimentality projected that is more of a wishful thinking than factual characterization; one can hardly imagine Callas enjoying herself in an impromptu picnic in a park, surrounding herself with nothing but carefree informality. But the movie is very strong on most aspects; the directing is fabulous, both in it's pace and in it's settings, and the acting - Jeremy Irons in particular - is truly exceptional. And then it's the music - wonderful singing from Callas' voice, coupled with scenes from a very spirited production of Carmen where Ardant gives a convincing performance in a very demanding part.

For some people the movie will prove somewhat unsatisfying, the more so if one focuses exclusively on Callas at the cost of ignoring other nuances and ideas, and the sheer pleasure of listening to the music and singing. But it is definitely recommended to watch, and for opera lovers it is a must see.

one day my generation will only know Maria Callas through osmosis

[lee_eisenberg · 6/10 · 2 June 2023]

Born as I was after Maria Callas died, I should start by noting that I learned of the noted opera singer from an almanac of the 20th century; one of the entries was about Callas's death (and included a photo of her). I later saw Jonathan Demme's "Philadelphia", and Tom Hanks's character listens to one of Callas's recordings in a scene. I've never listened to any of her recordings directly (and probably never will, since opera's just not my cup of tea).

Anyway, Franco Zeffirelli's "Callas Forever" is acceptable. It's a fictionalized look at the last few months of the temperamental soprano's life. Fanny Ardant plays the past-her-prime Callas, with Jeremy Irons as her former manager. It shows the diva's understanding that her voice isn't what it once was, even as the ex-manager tries to get her to perform again.

After a career topped by 1968's "Romeo and Juliet", almost any movie would seem like a letdown for Zeffirelli. This one's okay not great. Maybe worth seeing once. According to Wikipedia, a Callas biopic is getting planned with Angelina Jolie set to star.

What a boring, lousy piece of rubbish!

[Cristi_Ciopron · 1/10 · 9 September 2008]

One can not be but startled by the incredibly high reputation that Zeffirelli has in some quarters, where he is revered as an artist, an author, Visconti's heir, a consummate aesthete ,when the guy is so obviously much more banal--a buffoon, a hack, a charlatan, a bluffer, a hustler, a swindler. He began as a Viscontian minion, torchbearer as well as an able _toadie. His skills, abilities and deftness, real and admirable, are often spoiled, miserably wrecked by his hideous personality (and persona). I have seen a documentary about Zeffirelli, featuring interviews with him as well—the man, with his evil, viscous, mean smile, has something sinister and eerie, corrupt and decadent (in a real life way), nasty and filthy, disturbing and deeply, severely, strikingly unpleasant. This is in accord with his career. In fact, he is like Demme, like R. Scott, like Scorsese, Mann, Shyamalan, Coppola, etc.—where he is bad, he is horrendously so. Not an author, but a hack with occasional (significant) achievements. Some talk about him as if he has an art, a project, a continuity—as if he is a Bergman—and not only occasional, almost random successes. Returning to the man, the public persona, he is, beyond the paranoid elements and megalomania, fascinatingly unsettling. He looks somewhat like a reptile, a mean, voracious ,shrewd one. (I liked the looks of Visconti, Antonioni, even the plebeian Fellini.) On a second viewing, I liked much and fined exquisite and pleasing his HAMLET.

Fascinating film

[kentfx · 19 July 2004]

By 1977 (as the movie begins) Maria C. had become very much an icon, so the movie's emphasis on her large gay following is defensible I suppose, though Jeremy Irons' paramour is simply too good-looking for the part.

There was a film called Beethoven's Nephew a few years ago with a similar issue. Serious problem arise with casting attractive males in movies when they really have no qualities apart from their looks.

The Jeremy Irons character is a promoter who comes up with a thoroughly whacked-out idea for making money off the diva in what would turn out to be the last year of her life. He talks her into it -- re-staging Carmen for a movie and having her lip-sync to a tape made 20 years before -- and what we see produced is certainly knock-down gorgeous (Zefferelli directed this, after all), but still it is an absurd humiliation for the woman. Fortunately she comes to her senses at the end and gets the film quashed. (All this really happened, incidentally.) But the whole experience saves her life, in a sense, bringing her out of wasted years of drugs and a curtained existence in an elegant Paris apartment, to an acceptance of her age and an understanding of her place in high musical culture.

Fanny Ardant doesn't really look like Callas in the movie, though in the promotional stills she seems to. She can certainly act though, and makes an archetypal larger-than-life woman believable and thoroughly sympathetic. Joan Plowright is miscast, but the movie is strong enough to bury the memory of her part. There are scenes involving a board of directors that are just peculiar; apparently there is a parallel universe out there where corporate boards meet at the top of tall buildings to talk about the investment opportunities of aging opera stars. Fortunately those sequences are brief.

Some very nice touches appear having to do with Aristotle Onassis, who arguably destroyed the greatest opera singer in the 20th century, then dumped her. Coming to understand the depth of that betrayal is a painful undercurrent for Callas in the film.

For me one of the most intriguing scenes has to do with a handful of master classes Callas gave in New York at the very end of her life. I don't remember why, but I had a recording of some of them several years ago, lost now, alas. They were notable mainly for the uncanny perfection of Callas's examples when she would sing bits of arias for the students, following some young voice's painful attempt at the same piece. In one of the class's recreations in the film, while very brief, Callas-as-teacher rises to the kind of intellectual and emotional profundity that one-in-a-million teachers ever achieve. I was simply knocked out. Fanny Ardant does her very best work here, and the sequence is the emotional high-point of the film. I had tears in my eyes during the scene, something that usually nothing less than a hobbit will inspire in me.

The very end of the film is moving and utterly satisfying -- bittersweet, tragic, beautiful, more Puccini than Verdi.

Gloria Swanson would be proud

[candigrrl · 2/10 · 10 September 2004]

I have one question. What exactly did Maria Callas do to the people that made this film? Whatever it was, it must have been pretty bad for them to feel the need to get this horrible revenge. Horrible it is, all the way through.

I get the feeling this could turn into a cult classic. It's true that in parts, it's very very funny. Fanny Ardant plays ze great Kah Lass as a campy Gloria-Swanson-in-Sunset-Boulevard creation. She'll shriek at the drop of a hat and stamp around as if her life depended on it. Listen, don't get me wrong. I like Fanny Ardant. She's a very talented actress, as she has demonstrated in films such as Ridicule, Vivement dimanche!, 8 femmes... but here her performance is absolutely awful. Nostril-flaring, eye-widening, hissy-fitting horror.

Jeremy Irons doesn't have much to do as Callas's manager. Mainly he just follows Maria around, trying to convince her to do things, and then he has a "Oh, yes, don't forget I'm gay" scene every so often. Beautiful. And Joan Plowright is actually quite funny. You get the impression that she's always a beat away from rolling her eyes.

Listen, though. If you like Maria Callas, don't see this film. Please don't. It makes her out to be some sort of caricature, and it's actually quite insulting. If you don't mind either way, well, see it? Why not? It's diverting, at least. And if you get bored with the storyline, you can just pick out movie errors. My favourite: Callas out in her car, driving in endless circles...

Ardant at her best

[trlrtrax · 10/10 · 25 January 2004]

This is one of those gems which often are overlooked for years. I hope that is not the case with this truly outstanding effort. Fanny Ardant gives a reading on Maria Callas that is nothing less than superb. This should have gotten her nominations at every festival and showbiz awards group. The fire and passion in her eyes, the ability to have even the slightest facial change reflect fleeting passion and torture in her soul in full - and I mean FULL - closeup. This director has a quirk in his style, in that he often glosses over things we wish to know, but in this case that does not hurt the film. The friendship between Fanny and Jeremy Irons (also at his finest) is fully realized, warts and all, and Irons' romantic gay relationship is treated as real and honest, not just some "we're here and we're queer" in-your-face political statement.

The music is brilliant, Callas' voice never sounded better. The lip-synch near perfect. The sound has been enhanced and re-recorded in a fabulous way. AND THE WARDROBE. Chanel, Chanel, Chanel, and Fanny Ardant wears it like she was born wearing Chanel.

Joan Plowright turns in another wonderful character and the look and feel of this film is terrific.

Do NOT miss this film if you love opera, Callas, Ardant, Irons, or just plain good filmmaking.

Stupid cartoon rendition of Callas--AVOID

[filmalamosa · 2/10 · 29 September 2012]

Marie Callas (Fanny Ardant 53) is persuaded by a music promoter (Jeremy Irons 52) to make a career comeback in a movie of Carmen where she lip syncs to her old (good) recordings. She has to do this because she has lost her quality voice. This is all fiction and was supposed to take place in 1977 shortly before she died. It's purpose is to do a character study of Callas. It is supposed to show her flinty inner integrity and diva mannerisms. Also the funk her life assumed after Jackie stole Onassis from her (that makes me laugh).

It may have captured her personality somewhat but the fawning awe of every actor and extra in every scene was too much to bear. It was like an idiotic made for TV special.

I expected something better. Zeffirelli 80 must have been losing it when he made this.

All the male actors except maybe Irons and his side kick look like Fashion House models = weird too made up and distorted--as queenie gays are wont to be.

Avoid this idiotic fluff.

Zeffirelli is openly gay, funny because I didn't know this while watching the movie (had never heard of him) but thought this thing looks like it was made by flaming queen. Also from a different generation when most out of the closet gays were of this coloring. Fortunately today this is not the case.

DO NOT RECOMMEND

A truly great movie without a general release

[MikeF-6 · 10/10 · 16 May 2005]

I have never been much interested in Zeffirelli as a film director. Of his 22 directing credits, I have only seen four others- 3 of Shakespeare and 1 film of an opera based on Shakespeare. But he has come through with a great one here. It has a 2002 date but is just now getting a limited release in the U.S. Zeffirelli directs his own story and screenplay of a fictional account involving opera legend Maria Callas, sort of a what-might-have-been scenario based on his memories of his long professional association and personal friendship with Callas. The story takes place in 1977. Jeremy Irons plays a music promoter who is based loosely on Zeffirelli himself. When he flies into Rome, his job is managing PR for a heavy metal rock band. He tries to get in to see his old friend, Callas, but she has barricaded herself inside her apartment, being a long time in grief over the loss of her singing voice and the loss of Aristotle Onassis. Irons finally does talk to her and convinces her to take part in a comeback of sorts. Callas had recorded Bizet's "Carmen", but never performed it on stage. She agrees to appear in a film of Carmen where she will lip-sync to her older recording. This sets up a number of professional, personal, and ethical minefields for all involved. In the person of the great French actress Fanny Ardant, we see all of the diva's depth of emotion, her temperament, her grief, and her great talent. Callas was the whole package: her voice was an astounding musical instrument, but she was also a consummate stage actress who could deliver a powerful characterization with both her body and her voice – her singing was much more than just technical skill. Ardant embodies this temperamental talent to the max. Irons does his best work in years. In a parallel construction, as Callas' life begins to come together again, Irons' life falls into crisis as he struggles to save his career and his new relationship with a handsome young artist. The film features a lot of Callas' music, often in quite long excerpts, which is beautiful and devastating. More importantly, we get to see several long scenes from "Carmen" – the movie within the movie – and it looks wonderful. I really, really want to see that movie! I went to this at a local art house on Stupor Bowl Sunday afternoon. They had booked it into their smallest auditorium and were only running three shows that day. The house was packed! My Lovely Wife and I showed up – as we thought – a little early, but had to sit apart. A friend went the next Wednesday night and it was packed again – Wednesday night! At my showing as well as my friend's, nobody left when the closing credits ran (Callas singing "Casta Diva"), there was tremendous applause, and at the Wednesday night showing, my friend heard several gasps of astonishment. A week later, I am still all goose-pimply from the thought of the experience. See it. You won't regret it.

But....

[barrysheene · 1/10 · 27 September 2003]

,,if the movie is placed in 1977, what the hell make a lot of 2000 cars and bikes? There is an Espace, a Smart.......Zeffirelli should be less self confident and don't think he is the best ever movie director. All the movie looks very "cheap", only Fanny ardant is very good IMHO

Wonderful

[kensch · 19 October 2004]

This is a masterful film; I caught it at a gay film festival, but I don't understand why it hasn't been released. From the opening scenes with Jeremy Irons as an agent and a punk rock song playing in the background, you know you'in in the hands of a masterful storyteller. Zeffirelli structures the plot as the creation of a masterpiece that got away; a fictional film version of "Carmen." The conceit of the film is that Callas (late in her life) has been persuaded to make a film of Carmen (a role she had only recored but never sung). Since her voice is past its primew, she lip-syncs herself. This brilliant premise allows Fanny Ardant (who is simply brilliant as Callas) to lipsync to old Callas recordings. It also enables Zeffirelli to include several spectacular scenes from "Carmen" as part of the plot. I would rank this among the very best films about opera ever made.

Intriguing but disappointing

[TheLittleSongbird · 5/10 · 25 August 2011]

I was intrigued on seeing Callas Forever. While there have been times I have not warmed to Maria Callas' voice, I have a lot of respect for her for her interpretations and for her musicianship and dramatic intensity. And I am very fond of Franco Zeffirelli, not only is he a talented opera stage director but his costume and set designs are really inspired. Also I love his opera films, especially La Traviata.

So naturally I was intrigued on seeing Callas Forever. After finally seeing it there were some impressive things about it, but overall it was rather disappointing.

I will get the good things out of the way. The film looks beautiful, the costumes and settings are truly sumptuous and the photography is typical Zeffirelli, very fluid. The music is brilliant, all the arias are a delight to hear and are performed with passion and real panache. The only thing however is that of all the roles Callas was famous for such as Norma and Tosca, the film chose Carmen to focus on Callas. Zeffirelli's direction is solid, and Jeremy Irons is good enough as Larry, but other than the visuals and music Fanny Ardent's wonderful performance makes Callas Forever worth watching.

Some assets did disappoint though. The story never gelled for me, the gay relationship wasn't developed as well as it could've been and despite Irons' good performance Larry(his appearance here is fictional) and the other characters are not as developed well as Callas. The pace is also rather pedestrian and I to be honest did lose interest in some points of the film particularly in the second half. The script is a let down too, it is rather old-fashioned and maudlin.

All in all, disappointing but it does intrigue. 5/10 Bethany Cox

A thrilling experience

[Rogue-32 · 10/10 · 11 November 2004]

Callas Forever is one of the most compelling films I've ever seen that deals with the subject of what it means to possess a magnificent, other-worldly talent and to have that talent no longer at your disposal, to live day to day with the knowledge that you were once capable of true greatness but it exists no more, only in your memories and in your recordings, through which you are immortalized but tormented.

Fanny Ardant manages to bring Maria Callas to life in this extraordinary fictionalized account, created by the still-great Zeffirelli and his writing partner, Martin Sherman. She is reunited here with her co-star from the film Australia, Jeremy Irons, who turns in one of his most captivating performances ever (and I've seen them all, from Nijinsky on), as Callas' manager/promoter and friend Larry Kelly, who coaxes her out of her housebound depression with his brilliant idea, which inspires her back to life for at least a short while. This is film-making at its most thrilling; if you get a chance to see Callas Forever, do not miss the opportunity.

My IMDb rating: 10 - equivalent to **** .

A superb movie!

[i_matei · 10/10 · 12 March 2003]

I think that this one of the best movies that I've seen in the last months. For me Fanny Ardant is the Oscar winner in 2003. The movie is much deeper than it first looks. I think it's a satire to the decay of the art from our days. For fame and glory Maria Callas signs a pact with the devil accepting to make playback in Carmen...

That's the tricky part of the movie, that it isn't about Maria's life, it isn't about the wonderful music, but about the beauty of the original art. I recomand this movie to everybody, I think that you'll have a very nice surprise viewing it.

A truly touching tribute

[SLR-3 · 9/10 · 18 December 2004]

This is a clever and effective way to honor Callas. Zeffirelli has given us the Callas he knew and the voice few of us have heard properly until now.

Fanny Ardant and Jeremy Irons were perfect in their roles. It was fun to see Justino Diaz as well.

You could tell who the opera lovers in the audience were by those who laughed at the Renata Tibaldi line. There were actually very few at the showing we attended.

Four of us were in our group and all gave it 8's or 9's.