Callas Forever
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Callas Forever |
| Country of production | Italy , Spain , France , Great Britain , Romania |
| original language | English , French , Italian |
| Publishing year | 2002 |
| length | 108 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Franco Zeffirelli |
| script | Franco Zeffirelli, Martin Sherman |
| production |
Marco Chimenz , Giovanni Stabilini , Riccardo Tozzi , Giovannella Zannoni |
| music | Alessio Vlad |
| camera | Ennio Guarnieri |
| cut | Sean Barton |
| occupation | |
| |
Callas Forever is an internationally produced film drama from 2002, which traces the last year of life of the opera singer Maria Callas . Fanny Ardant can be seen in the leading role . It was directed by Franco Zeffirelli , who was a friend of Maria Callas and had worked with her on operas of Norma , La traviata and Tosca .
action
Opera diva Maria Callas lived secluded in her Paris apartment in 1977 . Melancholy, she reminisces time and again in memories of her glorious past on the great opera stages of the world. She does not let go of her lost love for Aristotle Onassis either. No longer able to sing her arias , she ceaselessly listens to her old recordings. Only with the help of sleeping pills can she find rest afterwards. Every now and then she is visited by her warm-hearted press officer Sarah Keller.
Her old agent and long-time friend Larry Kelly, who now stages rock concerts, has the idea one day to work with Maria again. With a screen production of Bizet's Carmen , in which Maria is to take on the title role, he wants to capture the film material of the greatest opera singer of the 20th century for future generations. He also hopes this way to tear Maria out of her depression. She shouldn't sing in front of the camera, just move her lips to her old recordings.
Maria is anything but enthusiastic about the project, but nevertheless agrees to play Carmen, for which she has only sung in the recording studio, but never on stage. The shooting fills her with life and creativity again. Without having to sing, she immerses herself in her acting skills and explains to the other actors and young talents what is important. After the film is finished, Larry plans to make more films with Maria. However, she declines his offer with thanks. She also demands that he prevent Carmen from being released and destroy the film, as she wants to remain true to her principles of perfection and sincerity in her portrayals. Just moving her lips feels like a “fake”, which as a true artist she cannot represent. Larry accepts her decision and has the footage destroyed.
background
Director Franco Zeffirelli was friends with Maria Callas and had staged some of her opera performances before she retired to her Paris apartment and died there on September 16, 1977. With Callas Forever he wanted to set up a cinematic monument to her that tells the last year of her life with mostly fictional events. Leading actress Fanny Ardant had already played Callas in 1997 in Terrence McNally's play Master Class in a production by Roman Polański on stage in Paris. Cinematographer Ennio Guarnieri had been behind the camera in 1969 for Pier Paolo Pasolini's Medea , in which Callas played her only film role. The shooting of Callas Forever found in Bucharest , Córdoba place and Paris.
The film celebrated its premiere in France on the 25th anniversary of Callas' death on September 16, 2002 and was shown almost exclusively at film festivals in other countries. The film was not released in Germany.
Reviews
Stephen Holden of the New York Times found that Fanny Ardant "eerily mastered the diva's body language as dramatic Callas on a movie set or pensive at home alone." Even if Callas Forever is "captivatingly played", it is, however, "a cheaply produced film". Deborah Young from Variety said that the film's greatest asset was "the outstanding performance by French actress Fanny Ardant". Maria Callas brings this to life "with breathtaking passion and fire". Franco Zeffirelli's staging of the Carmen sequences, "which make up a large part of the film and are by far the best scenes", appears "graceful and flowing".
Awards
The costume design was nominated for both the Spanish Goya film award and the Italian Nastro d'Argento . Callas Forever came away empty-handed, however.
Soundtrack
- Maria Callas, Alessio Vlad: Callas Forever . EMI 2002, 19 recordings with excerpts from operas with Maria Callas and film music by Alessio Vlad.
Web links
- Callas Forever in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Callas Forever at rotten tomatoes (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ “Whether portraying Callas emoting on a movie set or brooding at home alone, Ms. Ardant displays an eerie command of the diva's body language […]. If Callas Forever is compellingly acted, it is a skimpily produced movie. ” Stephen Holden : Ode to an Opera Star, in a Movie She Never Made . In: The New York Times , November 5, 2004.
- ↑ “Main asset of Callas Forever is a stellar performance by French actress Fanny Ardant […] who makes her spring to life with breathtaking passion and fire. [...] Zeffirelli's shooting of the Carmen sequences, which make up a sizable chunk of the film and are far and away the pic's most exhilarating sections, are graceful and fluid. " Deborah Young: Callas Forever . In: Variety , September 19, 2002.