Angelina Jolie Vaults Into The Oscar Conversation After ‘Maria’ Debut In Venice

Angelina Jolie has staked her claim to be part of the Best Actress Oscar conversation here at the Venice Film Festival following her well-received performance in Maria.

Pablo Larraín’s biopic follows the life story of the world’s greatest opera singer, Maria Callas, during her final days in 1970s Paris.

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Jolie in a press conference today said she spent seven months preparing for the role: “Everybody here knows, I was terribly nervous,” she said of learning to sing opera. “I spent almost seven months training because when you work with Pablo you can’t do anything by half. He demands, in the most wonderful way, that you really do the work and you really learn and train.”

Critics have perhaps been more enthusiastic about Jolie’s performance than the film itself, which could prove challenging for the actress’s Academy prospects, but Netflix picked the film up this week and the strong notices mean in a relatively quiet year for the streamer so far, Jolie’s turn could be a live contender for them.

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Deadline’s Stephanie Bunbury, in her review, said of the actress: “Jolie is an almost magical match for the real diva: achingly thin but still beautiful, loftily patrician, capriciously kind or selfish, tip-toeing dangerously close to madness. The actor’s commitment to this creation is obvious at every turn.”

Bunbury, however, also noted that the film concluded on a relatively single note compared to previous Larraín features, writing: “Maria tells a fascinating story, but it lacks that rasping edge.”

The Financial Times similarly praised Jolie’s commitment to the role, describing her as a “glamorous Callas.” Just like Bunbury, however, the paper questions the overall emotional ambition of the biopic.

“Jolie captures the glamour, intellect, and pathos of ‘La Callas’, but remains emotionally remote,” the paper said. “Still, there is fascination in watching the most celebrated voice in opera being lip-synced by the most famous lips in Hollywood, though the makers say Jolie’s singing voice too is in there somewhere.”

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The Telegraph, giving the film four stars, said Jolie “dazzles” as Callas. The paper added: “Jolie is given ample space to dazzle, but less to surprise. Dazzle she does though, with a fine understanding of just how camp she can go without proceedings becoming too operatic for their own good.”

The Guardian also gave the film four stars, calling it “magnificent”: “Jolie is a painting to be stared at in Pablo Larraín’s opulent drama, tottering around Paris in the 70s and drawing us in to tragedy as thoroughly as Bellini or Puccini.”

However, Jolie’s performance did not charm all on the Lido. In an article titled “This Is Not Angelina Jolie’s Big Comeback,” Vulture said the role of Callas is Jolie’s most “ambitious in ages” but “doesn’t feel like a reemergence so much as it does a project that’s been constructed around the strategically withholding presence she’s become.”

The Times of London similarly described Jolie’s Callas as “a pale imitation of an opera star.” The paper gave the flick two stars and said it fails to carry a “single moment that is emotionally operatic.”

“It is wilfully, wearily flat,” the paper wrote.

Time magazine praised Jolie’s performance and Larraín’s reverence for Callas but said he is unable to transform those feelings “into anything but tasteful, mannered kitsch.”

Maria is Larraín’s third female-powered biopic to debut at Venice following Jackie and Spencer. Both of those films nabbed Oscar noms for their leading actors. A nomination would mark Jolie’s first Academy nod in more than 15 years. She has been Oscar-nominated twice previously, winning the Best Supporting Actress prize back in 2000 for Girl, Interrupted, and scoring a Best Actress nomination in 2009 for The Changeling.

The Best Actress category has seen fierce competition in recent years. This year is no different. Among anticipated performances still to come this year are Saoirse Ronan in The Outrun and Blitz, Julianne Moore in The Room Next Door, Marianne Jean-Baptiste in Hard Truths, and Robin Wright in Here. Lauded turns to date include Karla Sofía Gascón in Emilia Pérez, Mikey Madison in Anora, and Demi Moore in The Substance. Wildcards include Lady Gaga, Fernanda Torres and Pamela Anderson.

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