Maria Callas: Living and Dying for Art and Love

The final stage performances of the legendary diva as the tormented heroine of Puccini's Tosca in London in 1964-1965 provide the focal point for this appreciation of the professional and personal life of Maria Callas. Combining archival found footage, stills (sometimes manipulated to give the illusion of movement), and interviews--with collaborators such as director Franco Zeffirelli and bass singer Tito Gobbi, and admirers including Placido Domingo, Judi Dench, and biographer Nicholas Gage--filmmaker Steve Cole's Maria Callas: Living and Dying for Art and Love nicely captures Callas' brilliant career and the excitement that attended her return to the operatic stage. The film also offers speculation about the effect of Callas' relationship with Aristotle Onassis on her work, particularly after the Greek tycoon's involvement with Jackie Kennedy (indeed, the intriguing underlying argument here is that the interrelation of art and life in the singer's life mirrored the plot of Tosca). While there's sadness in watching the decline of so spectacular an artist, there's also a certain joy in seeing how appreciative and affectionate those who knew her remain more than a quarter century after her death. Presented in DTS, Dolby Digital 5.1, and LCPM stereo sound (of variable quality, given the age of much of the footage), DVD extras include three excerpts from Tosca sung by Callas and Gobbi, her preferred Scarpia. A nicely-made piece that offers a good, though hardly definitive, tribute to one of the 20th century's greatest singing actresses, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)