Callas Forever
|
DVD Cover Information Actor: Fanny Ardant, Gabriel Garko, Jay Rodan, Jeremy Irons, Joan Plowright Brand: Image Entertainment DVD: Region Code 1 Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); French (Original Language); Italian (Original Language) Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen Picture Format: 1.78:1 Running Time: 111 minutes Published: 2005-06-01 DVD Release Date: 2005-06-21 Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) Studio: Image Entertainment |
| New | New Usually ships in 1-2 business days | $9.61 | ||
| Used | Used Usually ships in 1-2 business days | $1.46 |
Your purchase is protected by the A-to-z Safe Buying Guarantee. Amazon.com automatically transfers your payment to the merchant so you'll never need to pay a merchant directly. Amazon.com A-to-z Safe Buying Guarantee covers both the delivery of your item and its condition upon receipt.
Movie Reviews of Callas Forever
Movie Review: Awful, self-serving, sentimental garbage
Summary: 1 Stars
Franco Zefferelli has been telling everyone and his mother of his great love for Maria Callas. Callas worked with Zefferelli on a few opera productions, but other than his (very vocal) word of mouth, there's no evidence that Zefferelli was a close friend of Callas's. Certainly not on the level of Pier Pasolini or Luchino Visconti, if we're just comparing Italian directors.
But despite Zefferelli's egotistical interviews and overbloated opera productions, I knew he had some talent as a filmmaker, so I went to "Callas Forever" cautiously optimistic. I knew it was just supposed to be a fantasy of the last year of Callas's life, and was prepared to have a little fun.
My optimism was misguided. "Callas Forever" goes beyond fantasy, beyond the conventions of a biopic, and enters the realm of the Truly Bad Film. Everything is just a mess. First and foremost is Fanny Ardant's portrayal of Maria Callas. She is way, way too young-looking to be even slightly believable as the middle-aged Callas. Ardant was born in 1949, but Zefferelli piles her with pancake makeup and films her in this soft-focus lighting, so she literally has the glow of someone in her mid-30s. Ardant saddles Callas with a Sophia Loren accent, and carefully imitates all the Callas mannerisms. It's a caricature, not a portrayal.
The last sentence could be applied to the film as well. It's a caricature, not a portrayal. Every Callas cliche is thrown in (the clothing, the tempers, listening to her old records, her gay friends, her playing cards with the servants) until one wonders if this film is really a bad dream. Jeremy Irons, weepy and obsequious, is obviously the stand-in for Zefferelli, although his actual character is "Larry Kelly", the Dallas Opera impresario. He plays as if he were in some 1940s weepie.
The script is cliched and predictable, without a trace of wit or some of Callas's famous eccentricity that could have made the film fun. There's also a strange fixation on younger men. Every scene is filled with at least one hot young stud. Most embarrassing is the young "tenor" hired to play Don Jose in Zefferelli's fantasy Tosca. In other words, Callas Forever is just a self-serving, bathetic pile of drivel. Avoid your curiosity, avoid the film.