The fascinating true story behind Netflix's Maria, explained

Maria is a biographical drama movie directed by Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín, which is based on the last days of the legendary America-born Greek opera singer Maria Callas. Maria is the third addition to Larraín's trilogy on influential 20th-century women, which came after Jackie (2016) and Spencer (2021).

Written by Steven Knight, the movie is a multinational collaborative production between Germany, Italy and the United States. Led by Angelina Jolie, playing the role of Maria, the movie first premiered on August 29, 2024 at the 81st Venice International Film Festival.

Maria made its theatrical release in the United States on November 27, 2024. Finally, the biopic was made available for streaming on Netflix from December 11, 2024.

It is a documentation of the gifted singer Maria Callas during her final days while living in Paris. Maria by that time had lost most of her vocal abilities, which sent her through an intense face of depression.

The movie becomes a documentation of Maria's fight with her demons, as the memories from her past haunt her.

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What is the true story of Maria Callas?

Maria Callas, originally known as Maria Anna Cecelua Sophia Kalogeropoulos, was born on December 2, 1923, in New York, to parents both belonging to Greek origins. She grew up in the neighborhood of Manhattan, where her mother Litsa Callas initially wanted a son.

Maria carried her mother's burden of expectations throughout her childhood, where she was forced to sing on stage from a very young age.

Maria's parents had an ill marriage that created a unhealthy environment for Maria and her sister Jackie. It was in 1937, when the couple seperated and Litsa took both of her daughters to Athens.

Growing up in a war-stricken impoverished neighbourhood with time developed a condition of near-sightedness, which made it increasingly difficult for her to see while on stage.

After moving to Athens, Litsa approached Maria Trivella at the Greek National Conservatoire to take her daughter under her guidance, which she eventually agreed to do without any fees.

Trivella was the first person who understood the nature of her voice and directed that it was a dramatic soprano rather than a contralto.

Trivella understood the true potential of the young girl's voice to be warm, lyrical, and intense, which needed control and technical training. She first began performing on stage under the guidance of Trivella, after which she received her master, the eminent Spanish soprano Elvira de Hidalgo.

Practicing under Elvira opened to her a promising future as a successful opera singer.

It was in 1945 when Callas returned to the United States and immediately rose to international fame. She performed in some of the most prestigious opera houses in the world, including the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Royal Opera House, Teatro Colon, and Arena di Verona.

During one of her tours in Verona, Callas met a wealthy industrialist named Giovanni Battista Meneghini and they started dating.

The couple eventually got married in 1949, and Giovanni started managing her professional career, which highly contributed to her growth and fame.

Their relationship started to deteriorate when Maria started having feelings for another man, a business magnate who later became the world's richest man.

The affair soon received public attention, surrounding Callas suffering miscarriages multiple times.

However, their relationship met an abrupt end in 1968, when Onassis got married to Jacqueline Kennedy, the wife of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy.

Soon, Callas began to suffer from drastic weight loss, mainly because of her declining mental health amidst the extremely busy work schedule.

Her performances made a sharp decline, as she found it extremely difficult to sing on the same high notes that she was known for.

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Netflix's Maria documents the last days of the legendary opera singer

Callas had started singing opera at a very early age, mainly due to the pressure imposed by her mother. After decades of performances during the early 1960s, her voice started to make a sharp decline.

As per her close freinds, and fellow singers, the damage caused in her diaphragm made it extremely difficult to control her upper note ranges.

Music critics like Henry Pleasants commented that Callas had lost the physical strength, and voice support in her voice, which disabled her to touch high notes. Her fame quickly deteriorated, especially due to the scandals surfacing in the public, on her affair with Onassis.

She moved to Paris and spent her final years in complete isolation. On September 16, 1977, Maria Callas passed away due to a heart attack at the age of 53.

Netflix's new documentary takes a deep dive into the singer's life during her very final years, haunted by her memories.

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Check our other articles for more details on the documentary.