johnklem I'm talking about the negative reviewers here. I can only suppose it's a case of "Hell has no fury...". This is a terrific movie. In some ways this is the quintessence of art - a beautifully formed fantasy designed to reveal a hidden aspect of its subject. Quite why it's so divisive I don't know. Zeffireli is a genuine artist. He doesn't always get it right but this time the elements are all there - a subject he cares passionately for, a wonderfully whimsical conceit and the perfect conduit in Fanny Ardant. The result is as good an insight into an artist's soul as I've seen and a deeply moving and memorable film. Fanny Ardat is a French national treasure. France has at least a dozen brilliant actresses and Ardant is one of them but she's not often given such a meaty role. Here, her performance made me think at times of Falconetti. It's that good. The supporting players are, with one exception, fine and do what's needed. It's Ardant's show. The exception is Joan Plowright. She plays her journalist as a cuddly Miss Marple type and it just doesn't work. It's bad casting and I imagine that Zeffirelli had a personal reason for giving her the role. Joking aside, the negative reviews are very hard to understand. Skimpy budget shows? Not at all. It looks great thanks to Zeffirelli's eye for composition and design. Choppy and disconnected? I watched the 108 minute cut and wouldn't have changed a single edit. To file this film under "gay interest" or "for fans of opera only" is to miss the point. This is a thoroughly entertaining and enlightening film about an extraordinary artist, anchored by an extraordinary central performance.

roland-104 This is one of the loveliest European films I've seen in ages. It is an adoring tribute to Maria Callas by her longtime friend, Franco Zeffirelli, whose friendship with the spectacular opera diva of the 1950s had spanned 25 years.The conceit of the screenplay, conceived by Mr. Zeffirelli, is for Ms. Callas's fictional former concert manager to approach her with an idea to revitalize her flagged career and spirits. It is 1977, near the end of her life, and she is living as a recluse in her lavish Paris apartment, whiling away her days playing cards with the servants, drinking and popping pills, listening to her old recordings, and lamenting the loss of her voice and her precious Ari Onassis, who had died two years earlier (though of course she had lost him much earlier, when he married Jackie Kennedy in 1968, something she never got over).The manager's idea is for her to create a series of films in which she employs her still marvelous beauty and dramatic skills to enact her famous operatic performances, all the while lip-synching to recordings made years earlier when her voice was in its prime. She is reluctant, feels it is artistically fraudulent to use technology to simulate a performance, and, beneath this rationale, she is also frightened to return to the spotlight created by any sort of new venture.Finally she agrees to do "Carmen," the one major role that she had recorded but never performed on stage (apparently this is true). But in the end, after the film is shot, Callas reverts to her earlier view and demands that the manager promise never to distribute the "Carmen" film.The elegant French actress, Fanny Ardant, stars as Ms. Callas, reprising a role she had performed on stage in Paris in Roman Polanski's much praised adaptation of "Master Class" in 1997. It is said that Ms. Ardant looks strikingly similar to Ms. Callas. Jeremy Irons plays the role of her former manager, Larry Kelly, a personable gay man who is sincerely devoted to Ms. Callas. There are romantic subtexts – Kelly and a gay young artist (Jay Rodan), Callas and the gorgeous young tenor (Gabriel Garko) who plays opposite her in the Carmen film-within-a-film. Joan Plowright plays a good humored journalist, an old acquaintance of the principals.But the joy of this film is watching the performances of both Ms. Ardant and Mr. Irons, photographed often in close-ups that capture the exquisite "facial acting" – to use Stanley Kauffmann's term – of which both are so wonderfully capable. These players are sensational when separate and especially in scenes when they appear together. I have rarely seen Jeremy Irons show such a light, nimble sensibility, setting aside his more typical tendency toward melancholy. The photography and mise en scene are as lovely as Ms. Ardant. Especially wondrous are scenes showing Callas's apartment and, even more so, the scenes from "Carmen" (the exterior scenes were shot on location in Spain).Throughout, of course, we are treated to Ms. Callas's arresting coloratura soprano in recorded performances of various arias from among those for which she was famous. Ms. Ardant's performance more than rises to the passionate requirements for her various scenes as Carmen. These are truly thrilling. This film has had extremely poor distribution, in Europe and North America. That is unfortunate, for it is an aesthetic treat the likes of which are all too rare. (In French, Italian and – mainly – English). My rating: 8/10 (B+). (Seen on 03/13/05). If you'd like to read more of my reviews, send me a message for directions to my websites.

pmarring This one is to buy and keep on DVD. Exceeding all expectations, Callas Forever moved me to a place far beyond tears. I watched it alone because my husband has little interest in music, less in musicians or singers, an exceedingly practical, professional man who knows how to persuade and organize people while making lots of money and friends. Then I watched a second time at his insistence. He, too, was transfixed.Callas Forever is a labor of love. Many labors of love. The famed director, Franco Zeffirelli counted Maria Callas as a close friend for decades. In this film he recounts "fantasy and memories" of their great fellowship. It's fascinating to watch this platonic relation work cinematic magic.Fanny Ardant playing Maria Callas is sublime. Jeremy Irons is empathetically strong. And Joan Plowright is as funny and formidable as ever.See this film if you're not afraid to feel deeply.

canscene Three copies of Callas Forever turned up recently at Toronto's Queen Viceo and as a long time opera buff, I rented a copy as soon as I spotted it on the shelvesHorrified to learn of it shaving been almost totally ignored, I found this film a joy, with splendid performances by Ardant and Irons and asked myself why. . The universal theme of learning to accept ageing with grace far transcends the background-- just in case you loathe opera -- and the principals, who take up the majority of screen time, express two sides of the same coin with great performances.Franci Zeffirelli's loving direction of Callas Forever matches his imaginative concept and while we know that the incidents in the film never really took place the fact that they unfold so convincingly enable the director and his cast to drive home the theme of this fine film with such graceful impact. The final scene between Ardant and Irons is masterful and all the more moving because of its restraintLack of exposure certainly wasn't due to the fact that Iron s' portrayal of a gay impresario might have been considered inappropriate -- not in 2002!The obtuse Philistines responsible for booking and distributing films are once again at fault for debasing public taste. I wonder how may young and middle-aged people who will eventually see the film will turn to Maria Callas' recordings which fortunately are still available The rendition of Puccini's Vissi d'arte from Tosca mimed by Ardant to Callas' voice said everything about her character:" I lived for my art --- I lived for love"For my part, I've been able to locate Pasolinik's Medea, in which Callas makes her one and only appearance as an actress.As I write, I recall another fine film about opera: Istvan Szabo's Meeting Venus which I must see again as indeed I will return to Callas Forever.