With Maria, Chilean director Pablo Larrain completes his thematically linked triptych of portraits of famous, isolated women, having observed Jackie Kennedy before turning to Diana Spencer; Natalie Portman and Kristen Stewart received Best Actress Oscar nominations for their respective performances, and Angelina Jolie should make it a hat trick with her passionate portrayal of La Callas at the frail end of her extraordinary life. In common with the earlier films, Maria is an introspective, haunted, slightly hallucinatory experience that retains a tight focus on one key moment, the final week of Maria Callas, internationally feted opera diva, as she reflects upon her life from her beautifully appointed Paris apartment, in the company of butler and housekeeper (Pierfrancesco Favino and Alba Rohrwacher), who do what they can to stay on top of the diva’s prodigious drug intake. Notes by David O’Mahony.

‍