When I got a chance to see the latest movie by Franco Zeffirelli, I actually thought about what can hold the name of a "tribute." Is it a well made biopic, an idealized image of a person or is it just a very personal interpretation of someone we once knew and have never forgotten...? The answer is difficult since each viewer has a different taste and expects something special. The last "definition," however, seems to fit most to this movie, CALLAS FOREVER, in which Franco Zeffirelli includes his own fantasy as well as some memories of the longstanding friendship with Maria Kalogeropoulou, the Diva better known to the world as Maria Callas (1923-1977).The action of the movie actually relates to some period of 1977, the last year of Maria Callas' life. In Paris, the city of the artists, arrives Larry Kelly (Jeremy Irons) who is to promote Bad Dreams, a punk band popular among youngsters. To his surprise, however, Larry will experience something that he would not expect in his most welcome dreams: a rebirth of Callas, a yet another glamor of her voice and the true splendor of her art (though pure fantasy, how interesting it is).But it is not the content that makes this movie subtle. It is, first of all, the exceptionally artistic interpretation of the individuality that Callas was. Although Maria, having got through the terrible concert in Japan, is no longer in the heyday of her career, she once again, for a brief last moment in her life, believes in her success and acts in the film adaptation of CARMEN, the opera she had not performed on stage. A great help for her and the real promoter is Larry Kelly who motivates her and raises belief in her, belief in the Maria Callas of long ago coming to life again. She appears to be rather a nervous star, yet constantly worried about honesty. She does not accept any cliché or imitation. She appears to dislike the present techniques and willingly comes back to the past memories. "Then, everything was honest" she says. There are lots of moments that provide us with a wonderful insight into her character. It is not only the Callas of stage, the great star but foremost a PERSON with memories, fears, difficulties of character but, besides all, with an exceptional sense of beauty and art. She never loses control over reality and when asked "What will you do?" replies "Don't ask questions I can't answer." But it is important to mention that there are no contradictions. Throughout the film, we experience one Callas, not Maria Kalogeropoulou vs Maria Callas, but a single magnificent individual.Besides, the performances are brilliant in the film. Fanny Ardant is superb in the lead expressing all kinds of feelings in her face. Here, we can admit that a real artist plays a real artist! From the very first moment which shows Callas desirous to be alone at home and interrupted by Larry to the very last moment which shows Callas walking, Ardant is brilliant! It's simply impossible to skip her, for instance, in the moment when she listens to her recorded voice and movingly sings with the tunes. Jeremy Irons also does a splendid job in his part as Larry Kelly but when applied to him, I far more prefer his scenes with Callas than other moments. Who can forget the memorable scene he says to Maria: "Trust me"... Joan Plowright, a mainstay of Zeffirelli's newest movies, is also terrific in the role of Sarah Keller. She supplies her performances with a unique charm.The music and the whole atmosphere is worth your attention while watching the movie since what would the whole film be without the moments in which we hear the magnificent, heavenly voice of Maria Callas? Real classic and sublime! However, there are also wonderful music pieces in the film music. I was most impressed by the final scene in the park with the subtle gentle music in the background. It is filled with unforgettable tunes, not that easy to be recognized at first but very beautiful and profound. I was moved to tears as Larry Kelly was.If I have any complaints to the movie, these are rather some doubts than complaints. I am not that certain if the director was right to pay so much attention to CARMEN. In a while, this may become quite boring, especially for people who want a movie, not an opera on screen. The plot of Larry Kelly - Michael and particularly their homosexual affair is also not that needed. But the character of Michael (Jay Rodan) also has something to offer. He constitutes an accurate representation of a young man who listens to Callas, admires her, gets into her visions through his art (pictures) even if these are the 1970s and the generation of entirely different music.CALLAS FOREVER, in short, is a very subtle film, a real tribute to the great star that Maria Callas was, not an indifferent, monotonous biopic but an interpretation, a wonderful fiction filled with emotions and heart. It's not a masterpiece, perhaps not the best Zeffirelli's movie, but it is truly a fine and a powerful trace that the artist (Zeffirelli) is bound to leave in modern cinema. Moreover, it is the work that really reminds us of the genius that Callas was, which makes it a real tribute. Franco Zeffirelli, you moved us to tears through a number of your subtle movies, stay with us with your interpretations, no matter if it is ROMEO AND JULIET or CALLAS FOREVER. Stay with us in that way. Cinema needs you.

What a strange film. I recommend it not because it is a successful project, it isn't. But once having seen it, and putting it aside for reflection, you will appreciate the experience.Here is the real world: Maria Callas was an extraordinary voice and unusually committed to the acting component of opera. In life, she was famous for being imperious and vain. She was unattractive, relatively illiterate, achingly dumb and mercurial. She had a long affair with a similarly oafish but wealthy shipper with whom she shared class and cultural values. When he criticized her sexual grace, she lost weight which brought about the end of her career. She lived the end of her life sullen and rejected.While in her prime, she was directed by Franco Zeffirelli who gathered much acclaim for those and other operatic productions. At the end of her singing career, she appeared in a non-singing role in a film of another Italian filmmaker, someone who shared Zeffirelli's cinematic notions. He courted her for his own projects and consumed some of her (not his) money.Now some 25 years later he makes this film about a fictional situation in which he makes a film, itself a fiction because it matches her young voice to her older body.The movie itself is pretty tame, a highly stylized portrait of a lovely woman with grace and integrity. Completely unreal in tone. It looks very like a stage production. Within this film is the inner film of an opera that is well done. Opera is a strange art whose existence is justified by multiple arts overcoming the constraints of one another in the combination. No film or recording can be opera, so we have that problem, one where touch is required. The opera we see isn't opera, but cinema.So you'll find the movie itself tepid.But the idea of the thing is dizzying. It is a film about a film. It is a constructed fictional life about a woman who lived a constructed life that incidentally evolved from her profession, which was constructing characters on stage. It explores (in no deep way) matters of truth in art, while itself being an exercise in bending a truth which was fabricated anyway. It focuses on imposing the old onto the new in terms of Callas' voice. At the end, the Callas character nobly decides that such a thing should never be done and the fictional film be killed, but then this film is precisely what she argues about and by that time you have already watched it.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

An excellent exhilarating masterpiece - well conceived, excellently executed and wonderfully acted. A fantasy about the last years of Maria Callas in Paris - who feels she is just a shadow of her glory days - what if she had made movies, using her voice from the golden days? A challenging concept which Zeffirelli brings to vibrant life. He weaves a great tale of Callas making a movie on Carmen, encouraged by her friends. He clearly knows what he is doing, what he wants from the actors as well as the technicians - the details are great, the overall picture is also beautiful.What strike the viewer most are the performances - in a movie such as this - they can make or break it. The camera knows this and focuses closely on the two main characters - Callas herself (portrayed by Fanny Ardant) and Larry Kelly, her friend and 'agent' (Jeremy Irons). Ardant is mesmerizing as the talented, willful singer - her face manages to express a multitude of emotions - she lives the enigma that was Callas. Irons balances the scales with a powerful performance as the equally stubborn but loving Kelly, who ends up losing everything - money, love, career - in helping Callas.Joan Plowright is strong and dependable as always as Sarah - a journalist friend. Jay Rodan as Michael - an artist and Larry's boyfriend and Gabriel Garko as Carmen's love in the movie and an actor who ends up 'loving' Callas also turn in good performances.All in all - a must see gem sadly neglected by audiences and critics.

As with any film that makes one think - and feel - I enjoyed this movie. It's unfortunate, though, that I only remember the real Callas from her press and not from her actual voice. As I recall, the critics of the day were not especially kind to her, and at the time I probably fell in with their opinion.The acting in this film is superb, and Fanny Ardant creates Callas as a very appealing woman, warts and all. What's amazing is her depiction of how such a headstrong woman can simultaneously have been so vulnerable.Various threads run through the film: nostalgia for the heady days of power and fame, the attempt to recapture one's youth (there's no fool like an old fool), the need for love, respect, even adulation. However, I detect a much simpler message: that Callas never got over her love for Onassis - someone barely mentioned in the film - and that Zefirelli in his way still loves Callas. How each of these people handle that love is the real theme of the film, the stuff of life's tragedy.