Callas Forever

Cast: Fanny Ardant, Jeremy Irons, Joan Plowright

Director: Franco Zeffirelli

Running time: 108 min

Release year: 2002

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Film review by George Sand

Callas Forever is a fictionalized account of the final days of the legendary soprano Maria Callas. Director Franco Zeffirelli, a close friend of Callas, avoided telling her true story, the sensational aspect of her life. But instead, he chose to indulge himself in a little fantasy of what could have been...what if he had stepped in and helped her, as her manager (played by Jeremy Irons) does in the film.

Having lost her voice, her great love Onassis and her self-confidence as a woman, Maria Callas spends her days at her Paris apartment in seclusion. Her manager and friend, Larry Kelly (Irons) decides to help her rejoin the living by putting the opera Carmen on film, with Callas lip-synching to her old recording when her voice was in better form. Callas is skeptical at first, but ultimately agrees.

The fictionalized story of Maria Callas comes off a little contrived. But Zeffirelli treats us to stunning scenes from Carmen, and this is where the film excels.

One of the biggest surprises for me was that I found myself more drawn to Fanny Ardant as "Carmen" in the opera within the film, than as "Maria Callas". I was so captivated by the scenes with Fanny in the role of Carmen that I wish they had done an entire production of Carmen in this film. As Maria Callas says in the film, lip-synching to her old recordings is very difficult, it's not just about moving the lips. It involves the breathing, the vocal cords, the muscle movement, the diaphragm, and the entire body. And Fanny is superb as Carmen. Looking more gorgeous than ever, she gives a very convincing and passionate performance in a very colourful but challenging role.

Fanny's interpretation of Maria Callas is sympathetic and moving. There are moments of Callas with her infamous temper tantrum, but the film largely avoids depicting her as a monstrous diva...a stubborn person, perhaps, and a diva nevertheless, but in the end, we see a warm and rational person who has come to terms with reality and feels almost at peace with herself.

It is difficult to categorize this film. It's not a biography and it's not a full production of an opera. Perhaps one could call it a lyrical tribute to Maria Callas.

The setting of the film is beautiful. Zeffirelli's talent for creating grand, colourful productions is evident in this film, especially with the scenes from Carmen. Even a simple picnic at the Bois de Boulogne is gently colourful. Add that to Fanny Ardant in Chanel, Callas Forever is a visual feast.
 

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