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Callas Forever (2004)
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Reviews Counted:58
Fresh:24
Rotten:34
Average Rating:5.4/10
Runtime: 1 hr 52 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: At the beginning of this engrossing story, Larry Kelly (the delectable Jeremy Irons) has become a manager of rock bands – much easier to handle, he asserts, than a temperamental opera star. ... At the beginning of this engrossing story, Larry Kelly (the delectable Jeremy Irons) has become a manager of rock bands – much easier to handle, he asserts, than a temperamental opera star. Managing Maria Callas's late career has left him scorched by the star's brilliant fire. Visiting her palatial Paris apartment, Kelly is shocked to find a broken and reclusive Callas, humiliated by the deterioration of her voice. Determined to re-ignite her passion and restore her legacy, he convinces her to take on an important project: a film of the opera Carmen, in which she will lip-sync her own, glorious recording of many years previous. Thus begins a reawakening of their former relationship, mixing creative passion, genius, and drive in an incendiary cocktail. The stars are ably supported by a feisty Joan Plowright as their mutually supportive journalist friend, newcomer Jay Rodan as Larry's handsome artist boyfriend, and a wonderfully steamy performance from sexy Gabriel Garko as the tenor who worships Callas and yearns for his own opportunity for greatness. The special relationship between Callas (a luminous Fanny Ardant, reprising her stage portrayal) and her former manager forms the heart of this compelling fictional imagining of the diva's swan song, written and directed by the late Callas's friend and colleague, Franco Zeffirelli (ROMEO AND JULIET), in a worthy tribute to his legendary friend. -- © Regent Releasing [More]
Starring: Fanny Ardant, Jeremy Irons, Joan Plowright, Jay Rodan
Starring: Fanny Ardant, Jeremy Irons, Joan Plowright, Jay Rodan, Justino Diaz, Stephen Billington
Director: Franco Zeffirelli
Director: Franco Zeffirelli
Screenwriter: Franco Zeffirelli
Story: Martin Sherman
Producer: Riccardo Tozzi
Studio: Regent Releasing
Reviews for Callas Forever
An enjoyably risible biopic about the final days of the opera singer that's full of foot-stamping tantrums and high-pitched hissy fits.
So appealing and ingratiating that it's hard not to be taken in by Zeffirelli's fantasy.
In his Ode to his colleague, Zeffirelli reminds us all how fragile egos can be and the lengths artists (and their producers) will go to remain in the limelight.
Zeffirelli's 'Carmen' looks more PBS than MGM, and this relative poverty helps explain why this sincere but bloodless film has taken three years to limp into theaters.
The film rises and falls on Ardant's performance and, boy, does she deliver, chewing up scenery and making it look like delicate surgery.
It's an odd little film with tremendous appeal. It's almost as if Zeffirelli ... has dug up a late-'70s time capsule to share with the world.
Nothing more than Zeffirelli's wish-fulfillment, pretending to stage a production of 'Carmen' with Fanny Ardant acting as proxy for his late, great star.
Zeffirelli is in his element celebrating Callas' glory and lushly staging Carmen. Alas, the rest of the movie... falls flat.
Though for opera buffs the result may well be fun, it's also camp with a high C....Douglas Sirk and Ross Hunter, eat your hearts out.
Little of it works, and frankly, the film alternates between being dull and being almost campy fun.
Bravura performances by all. Fanny Ardant shines as the woman in desperate need of a spotlight.
For Callas fans, this is a winner. For others, it should at least be interesting.
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