Maria review

Cast: Angelina Jolie, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Alba Rohrwacher, Pierfrancesco Favino

Director: Pablo Larraín

Star rating: ★★★1/2

With Maria, director Pablo Larraín has concluded his unofficial trilogy of troubled women following Jackie (about Jacqueline Kennedy) and Spencer (about Princess Diana). Larraín's depictions of these women are infused with an intrinsic blend of curiosity and admiration, portraying the women as they endure suffering and uncertainty, ultimately regaining their space in moments of vivid realisation. No one accomplishes this like Larraín, a director whose abilities appear somewhat unsteady here in Maria. Now available for streaming on Lionsgate Play, this is an extraordinary and visually captivating film, often vulnerable to its own contradictions as a kind of psychodrama.

The premise

In contrast to Jackie and Spencer, Maria does not revolve around a woman battling to exist beneath the influence of a societal force. There are no political tensions or royal family turmoil to gather here; Maria stands as her own entity—a woman who has experienced life on stage, with the spotlight shining directly into her eyes. This adds complexity to the narrative of her tragic final days, as Larraín—collaborating here with a script by Steven Knight—opts to set her story in Paris in 1977, just a week before her death. This tightens the focus of the film and traces her tale through a prolonged lens of retrospective intrigue. As the curtain rises, audiences are introduced to the woman at her most splendid, awe-inspiring in her ability to command a theatre with the strength of her voice. Such was her influence, Larraín conveys.

Maria possesses a somewhat ghostly aura herself in her sleek Parisian apartment, starting her day by requesting her housekeeper Bruna (Alba Rohrwacher) to tell her exactly how her voice sounds. Soon after, it is her other house staff Ferruccio (played by Italian actor Pierfrancesco Favino), who informs her that Bruna has nothing to say regarding her abilities. However, Maria, taking sedatives as she talks, will heed no one but her own.

Larraín employs flashbacks and quick glimpses into Maria's past, as she fervently attempts to maintain the same joy of being on stage. Maria was a stunning figure and possessed a flawless, diva-like style, which the film captures with the assistance of costume designer Massimo Cantini Parrini. The problem arises with the rather cold script that tends to diminish the emotional depth of her life. The mannered conversations align with a self-indulgent directing style that obstructs the experience. We are so close to glimpsing her sorrow yet cannot get close enough.

Angelina Jolie shines

Angelina Jolie stands prominently amidst these challenges, offering a beautifully nuanced and heartfelt performance as the woman reconciling with the life she has led, while poignantly yearning to cling to a little more. The actress manages to embody that fragile yet regal presence that Maria possessed, one that commanded the attention of the room like no other.

Nevertheless, the greatest achievement of Maria is the outstanding work by master cinematographer Ed Lachman. His camera utilises various film stocks to discover the rhythm of her tale—particularly exquisite in those 35mm black-and-white segments. The frame captures the woman in the hallways, rotates around her on stage, and poignantly observes her unravel like a secret of her own.

Even if Larraín's Maria lacks a certain level of emotional clarity, it is Lachman's camera that provides the essential articulation and vulnerability to peer into her inner mystique. Maria sings, stumbles, and rises again. Her sorrow requires a realm of her own. Her legacy continues.

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