Angelina Jolie glides through the final days of Maria Callas in Pablo Larraín’s “Maria." Currently playing in select theaters and streaming on Netflix Dec. 11, “Maria," rated R, plays like an opera, grandly theatrical and evocative of a larger-than-life star.

Angelina Jolie never expected to hit all the notes. But finding the breath of Maria Callas was enough to bring things out of Jolie that she didn't even know were in her. "All of u

While the glamorous role of a declining opera diva would seem perfect for a star of Jolie's profile, it's undernourished by the screenplay's limited conception.

Angelina Jolie has a real knack for portraying real people. Jolie's best movies such as Girl, Interrupted, Gia, and Changeling drew the eyes of critics and audiences, receiving multiple nominations and accolades.

The Callas of “Maria” has far more agency regarding her personal affairs. In a flashback scene (one of many in the film, mostly in B&W), she blows off a brazen proposition by U.S. President John F. Kennedy with a raised eyebrow and the chilly query, “Where’s Jackie?”

“Maria,” Pablo Larraín’s cinematic portrait of opera legend Maria Callas, arrives as the third of the director’s films centered on iconic women of the 20th century.

Following "Jackie" and "Spencer," director Pablo Larraín’s film is the third chapter of his trilogy about famous 20th-century women held captive by their celebrity. WBUR critic Sean Burns writes, "It’s finally a role that’s the right size for its star,

Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series spotlighting the scripts behind the year’s buzziest awards-season films continues with Maria, the Maria Callas snapshot-biopic starring Angelina Jolie. Pablo Larraín directed the screenplay penned by Steven Knight.