Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

Noutions Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

filmalamosa 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

TheLittleSongbird 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

oliver-177 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.

imxo As with any film that makes one think - and feel - I enjoyed this movie. It's unfortunate, though, that I only remember the real Callas from her press and not from her actual voice. As I recall, the critics of the day were not especially kind to her, and at the time I probably fell in with their opinion.The acting in this film is superb, and Fanny Ardant creates Callas as a very appealing woman, warts and all. What's amazing is her depiction of how such a headstrong woman can simultaneously have been so vulnerable.Various threads run through the film: nostalgia for the heady days of power and fame, the attempt to recapture one's youth (there's no fool like an old fool), the need for love, respect, even adulation. However, I detect a much simpler message: that Callas never got over her love for Onassis - someone barely mentioned in the film - and that Zefirelli in his way still loves Callas. How each of these people handle that love is the real theme of the film, the stuff of life's tragedy.