Is Angelina Jolie actually singing in Maria?

The film uses a blend of Angelina Jolie's actual trained voice for scenes where Callas is weak or practicing, blended with original historic recordings of Maria Callas for her peak performance moments.

How intense is the drug use in the movie?

There are no illicit street drugs, but prescription medication dependency is central to the film. Callas is frequently shown taking pills, hiding them, and experiencing confusion or hallucinations as a direct result.

Is Maria appropriate for a middle schooler interested in singing?

It is generally too slow and heavy for middle schoolers. While there is no explicit violence or profanity, the mature focus on terminal health decline, loneliness, and addiction makes it better suited for older teens.

Do you need to know about opera history to follow the plot?

No prior knowledge is strictly necessary, but knowing that Maria Callas was considered one of the most famous and dramatic sopranos of the 20th century helps contextualize her massive fall from global stardom to total isolation.

Maria – WISE Score & Parent Review | Screenwise

Maria

Name: Screenwise
Author: Screenwise

movie2024

68%

WISE Score

Avg. Tomatometer

Angelina Jolie plays operatic icon Maria Callas wandering 1970s Paris while confronting pill addiction, loss of voice, and past memories.

6.4/10

75%

76%

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Maria

movie

R, 2024

68%

WISE Score

Avg. Tomatometer

Angelina Jolie plays operatic icon Maria Callas wandering 1970s Paris while confronting pill addiction, loss of voice, and past memories.

6.4

75%

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6.4/10

75%

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Screenwise Verdict

Director Pablo Larraín completes his trilogy of tragic female portraits (after Jackie and Spencer) with this moody look at opera singer Maria Callas during her final days in 1970s Paris. Angelina Jolie delivers a quietly intense performance, but the film is less about grand music and more about a isolated woman drifting through drug-induced fogs and fading memories.

For a teenager studying vocal music or theater, it provides an interesting character study about the price of extreme artistic perfectionism. For almost anyone else, the combination of slow pacing and persistent pill abuse makes it a tough sit.

Age Fit

Aimed strictly at mature teens (15+) and adults. High schoolers interested in voice, theater, or classical music will find historical context here, but younger viewers will be alienated by the deliberate pacing and somber themes.

WISE Breakdown

Wholesome

Focuses heavily on a reclusive, fading star struggling with loneliness, severe pill dependence, and her past. It lacks uplifting tone or positive relational modeling.

Imaginative

Pablo Larraín uses stylish visual choices, opera sequences, and surreal hallucinations to mirror Maria Callas's inner world.

Safe

No graphic violence or sexual content, but pervasive scenes of heavy prescription drug abuse, hallucinations, and psychological distress.

Enriching

Offers an artistic look at one of the 20th century's defining opera singers, touching on art, discipline, fame, and mortality.

Parent Info

✓

Why It Might Be Great

A serious window into opera history: Showcases the sheer discipline and vocal prowess required at the peak of classical performance.
Commanding lead performance: Angelina Jolie captures the fierce dignity and physical fragility of a global icon in decline.
Stunning production design: The 1970s Paris backdrop, period wardrobes, and moody cinematography create a distinct aesthetic atmosphere.

⚠

What to Watch For

Constant prescription drug abuse: Maria's heavy reliance on sedatives and pills drives much of the narrative friction and her hallucinations.
Glacial pacing: The story is an interior, melancholic portrait of isolation rather than a standard energetic Hollywood biography.
Themes of terminal illness and death: The entire film takes place during the final days of Callas's life, keeping the tone intentionally heavy.

Conversation Starters

"What did Maria seem to value more: her personal happiness or her identity as a world-class artist?"
"How did her staff balance protecting her privacy with trying to help her health?"
"When an artist loses the specific talent that made them famous, what is left of their identity?"

Deep Dive

A quiet tragedy built for specific tastes

If you expect a traditional musical biopic with triumphant comeback montages, Maria will catch you off guard. Like Pablo Larraín's previous films about iconic women, this is a compressed, stylized slice of life focused entirely on decline. The story stays inside Maria Callas's Paris apartment and her immediate neighborhood as she attempts to reclaim her voice while popping pills and conversing with imaginary interviewers.

The content reality

The central caution for parents isn't sex or violence, but the continuous depiction of prescription dependency. Callas's butler and housekeeper spend much of the runtime trying to limit her access to drugs while she bribes or manipulates her way into getting more. Her mental fog and visual hallucinations are depicted regularly, creating an atmosphere that feels heavy and claustrophobic.

If your high schooler is genuinely passionate about classical arts, Maria offers plenty to dissect regarding how society treats aging female stars and the physical strain of vocal performance. Just go in knowing it demands patience and a high tolerance for melancholy.