There was once a more mysterious version of celebrity. The wall that separated a famous artist’s performance from that same artist’s private life was more difficult to scale. Popular singers didn’t routinely executive produce advertorials stuffed with behind-the-scenes footage of themselves: no rehearsal time laid bare, no banal shopping trips, no nervous visit to their personal ear, nose, and throat specialist (to date, Justin Bieber has made two such films). Fans didn’t have the immediate access provided by the internet; a star was more or less allowed to keep the public at arm’s length.
Filmmaker Tom Volf reaches into the past to change that in “Maria by Callas,” a lovingly assembled documentary about the life and career of American opera legend Maria Callas, whose voice is considered to be among the greatest of the 20th century. Here, the private Callas is made public.
Curated from live performance footage, television interviews, the singer’s own private letters and unpublished personal writing (some of which are read in voiceover by mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato), as well as photos and memorabilia lent by friends and other archival sources, what emerges is more respectful portrait than painstaking biography, but one that will satisfy fans and undoubtedly draw in newcomers to the legacy of opera’s most notoriously expressive performer.
The biographical details are included, to be sure: Callas describes her New York childhood with a demanding mother, and her entrance to a Greek conservatory at 13, where she studied under, and subsequently developed a lifelong devotion to, Spanish soprano Elvira de Hidalgo. Rather than explain her adult career, however, we get to see and hear Callas perform arias from works such as Verdi’s “La Traviata” and Bellini’s “Norma,” start-to-finish, thrillingly, uninterrupted.
The controversies each take their bow for the purposes of mild correction. Her creative battles with the Metropolitan Opera’s Rudolph Bing, bouts that led to her eventual firing (“Men don’t like the truth,” she says in one interview, and if it wasn’t referring to Bing specifically, it might just as well have been). Then there is the infamous 1958 cancellation of a gala performance in Milan of “Norma,” where she walked out after the first act, unable to continue due to bronchitis. These troubles are all defended in what was at one time private communication, a gentle rebuke to popular narratives of the “difficult” diva once known as “The Tigress.” (In one televised interview, she demurs when branded as “tempestuous.”)
Then there is her long affair with Aristotle Onassis, one that facilitated her divorce from husband Giovanni Meneghini, and which was interrupted by Onassis’ marriage to the widowed Jacqueline Kennedy. Callas and Onassis resumed the romance in the middle of that marriage; Callas publicly referred to their liaison as “friendship” and privately described it as a relationship that “made [her] feel liberated” as her vocal power declined, her stage career cooled, and her desires to live a more traditional life — or at least as traditional as a life can be on a billionaire’s yacht — took over.
At the time a source of screaming tabloid ire, here the relationship takes on a wistful quality, Callas’ plea for comfort and joy that fame’s spotlight denied her, a break from what she called “the Callas I have to live up to” and one that makes the included performance of “Vissi d’arte, Vissi d’amore (I lived for art, I lived for love)” from “Tosca” all the more poignant and heartbreaking.
If there is a glaring omission in “Maria by Callas,” it would have to be that of Callas’s uncompromising work ethic, the years of arduous process it took to become that name she had to live up to. It’s also probably an understandable void, a private element of her vocation that never went before cameras. In its stead, Volf peppers glorious recital footage with warm novelties like Callas talking about her recipe collection, footage of her being jostled by a baby elephant at a gala, of being whisked through airports in impeccable vintage outfits, of backstage costume preparations, and on-set footage from her role in the 1969 Pier Paolo Pasolini film “Medea.”
“Destiny is destiny, and there is no way out,” Callas matter-of-factly states in a TV interview, seemingly resigned to her fate as a special creation, explaining nothing more on the subject. And as a document of a special creation, “Maria by Callas” is very nearly enough, thanks in no small part to that generous helping of footage where she fulfills that very destiny. It’s a powerful reminder that private walls can stay put when she’s singing Bellini’s “Casta diva,” that the music is more than enough, that we can let the mystery be.
15 Top Grossing Documentaries at the Box Office, From 'An Inconvenient Truth' to 'Fahrenheit 9/11' (Photos)
Documentaries are rarely big money makers, but they can have the power to influence change and motivate people to action in a way narrative films cannot. So when a documentary does make a splash at the box office, it's an even bigger surprise. This list of the top-15 grossing documentaries ever is an interesting mix of political, nature and concert docs, and several of them likewise went on to win Oscars and critical acclaim. All numbers are domestic totals via Box Office Mojo.
Warner Bros./National Geographic Films/Paramount Classics
15. "They Shall Not Grow Old" (2018) - $17.9 million
Director Peter Jackson went to painstaking lengths to digitally restore and transform 100-year-old archival footage for his powerful documentary on World War I. Jackson restored color and sound to the Great War, something that was previously only known through black and white silent film. The documentary performed well in part because of a release that even transformed the footage into 3D.
Warner Bros.
14. "Oceans" (2010) - $19.4 million
You'll see a lot of Disneynature documentaries on this list. Pierce Brosnan narrates this 2010 documentary filmed across the world's oceans.
Disneynature
13. "Bowling for Columbine" (2002) - $21.5 million
Michael Moore's provocative documentary about American gun violence (and one of his best) won the Oscar for Best Documentary and broke international box office records for a documentary in 2002.
United Artists
12. "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" (2018) - $22.8 million
Morgan Neville's portrait of Fred Rogers and "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" proved to be a crowd-pleasing hit in the summer of 2018 because of the absolute niceness at its heart. Neville in his film explains that Fred Rogers was the rare person who really did not have a dark side, and in "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" it shows.
Jim Judkis / Focus Features
11. "An Inconvenient Truth" (2006) - $24.1 million
Davis Guggenheim's documentary spotlighting former Vice President Al Gore's plea to alert the world to the effects of global warming and climate change went on to win two Oscars and earn a sequel.
Paramount Classics
10. "Sicko" (2007) - $24.5 million
Another Michael Moore movie to crack the list, "Sicko" was Moore's look at the healthcare industry in America compared to other nations, with Moore sailing sick veterans down to Cuba to receive the care they couldn't have had at home.
Lionsgate
9. "Katy Perry: Part of Me" (2012) - $25.3 million
This 2012 concert movie followed Katy Perry on her California Dreams World Tour.
Paramount Pictures
8. "One Direction: This Is Us" (2013) - $28.8 million
"Super Size Me" filmmaker Morgan Spurlock directed this concert doc about the then wildly popular British boy group.
TriStar
7. "Chimpanzee" (2012) - $28.9 million
Tim Allen narrated this Disneynature doc about a three-month old chimp separated from his flock and adopted by another grown male.
Disneynature
6. "Earth" (2007) - $32 million
The first of Disneynature's documentaries, "Earth" was a theatrical version of the popular "Planet Earth" miniseries from 2006. "Earth" was finally given a stateside theatrical release in 2009.
Disneynature
5. "2016: Obama's America" (2012) - $33.4 million
Dinesh D'Souza's anti-Obama documentary speculated about where the country would be if Obama won a second term in office in 2012.
Getty Images
4. "Michael Jackson's This Is It" (2009) - $72 million
The footage in "This Is It" comes from a behind-the-scenes look at preparation for Michael Jackson's 50 shows at London's O2 Arena. It wasn't originally meant to be made into a film, but it provided an intimate look at Jackson in his final days.
Getty Images
3. "Justin Bieber: Never Say Never" (2011) - $73 million
The Biebs holds the spot for the highest-grossing concert film ever and the documentary with the biggest opening weekend of all time.
Paramount Pictures
2. "March of the Penguins" (2005) - $77.4 million
People sure love penguins. Morgan Freeman narrates the nature documentary that opened on just four screens but soon spread into a nationwide hit.
National Geographic Films
1. "Fahrenheit 9/11" (2004) - $119.1 million
Michael Moore's scathing documentary about President George W. Bush and the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks is the highest-grossing documentary of all time and it isn't even close. The film won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Opening at over $23 million, the movie at the time opened higher than any other documentary had ever grossed in its lifetime. Moore followed up the film with a documentary about the 2016 election and Donald Trump, titled "Fahrenheit 11/9," which refers to the day after he was elected.
Miramax
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Michael Moore, Disneynature and several concert films top the list
Documentaries are rarely big money makers, but they can have the power to influence change and motivate people to action in a way narrative films cannot. So when a documentary does make a splash at the box office, it's an even bigger surprise. This list of the top-15 grossing documentaries ever is an interesting mix of political, nature and concert docs, and several of them likewise went on to win Oscars and critical acclaim. All numbers are domestic totals via Box Office Mojo.