By Pablo Larrain’s “Maria” premiered at the Venice Film Festival last night to an eight-minute standing ovation for the director, his cast and leading lady Angelina Jolie.
The film, a biographical drama about the Greek opera singer Maria Callas, premiered at the Sala Grande Theatre. Jolie was saying wiping away tears during the ovation, with many suggesting awards consideration for Jolie.
Other awards for the film seem less likely, with the movie scoring just 70% (6.1/10) on Rotten Tomatoes and a 63/100 on Metacritic.
Almost all the reviews praise Jolie, but have serious issues with the film itself and call it the weakest of “Jackie” and “Spencer” director Larrain’s biopics.
In a press conference earlier in the day, Jolie revealed she spent almost seven months doing opera training for her role “because when you work with Pablo you can’t do anything by half.”
The film will be released on Netflix sometime later this year, though it is expected to have an awards-qualifying cinema run beforehand.
Other major films set to premiere in the coming days at Venice include Luca Guadagnino’s “Queer,” Pedro Almodovar’s “The Room Next Door,” Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist,” Todd Phillips’ “Joker: Folie a Deux,” Walter Salles’ “I’m Still Here,” and Justin Kurzel’s “The Order”.
Source: Variety
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