Tony Palmer's Film About Callas

Three decades after her death, Maria Callas remains the quintessential prima donna, and Tony Palmer's Film About Callas (1987) is still one of the best cinematic portraits of the artist available. Boasting a digitally-remastered 2007 transfer, Palmer's film covers Callas' entire life and career, from her childhood, through her myriad professional triumphs and personal tragedies, to her reclusive retirement and death at the age of 53. The documentary certainly doesn't ignore Callas' problems—her weight (which she reduced by sheer power of will), her tendency to cancel appearances and drop out of performances, and—especially—her troubled love life (including her relationship with Aristotle Onassis). And the film poignantly depicts her final attempts at performing in concert, when her voice was a wobbly shadow of its former self. But this is no piece of tabloid sensationalism, but rather a balanced work that includes the unhappy aspects of Callas' life together with an appreciation for the enormous impact the singer had on operatic style (by adding powerful drama to her vocalism), a fact noted in extensive interview segments with renowned directors such as Franco Zeffirelli and stage partners including Tito Gobbi. The admiring recollections here are buttressed by substantial footage from her performances, which Palmer skillfully edits with the other archival materials that—along with periodic observations from biographer John Ardoin—are employed to tell Callas' story. Maria Callas might not have had the most sensuously beautiful of voices, but Palmer's film persuasively illustrates how she used what conductor Tullio Serafin famously called her “great ugly” instrument to create a virtual operatic revolution—even as she was tormented by a host of personal demons. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)