'Maria' makes for fascinating viewing. I knew nothing, to be honest, directly of Maria Callas before watching, though obviously had heard of the grand pieces of music. Very sad, if naturally very interesting, to learn more about her and her final days. Beautifully told.
Really intriguing to see that Steven Knight wrote this, not something I'd expect to see him write based on the other work of his that I've seen - more fool me, evidently a man of many talents. Knight and those offscreen are reasons why this is terrific as it is, though the cast are too.
I feel like I've not seen enough of Angelina Jolie. I have seen a fair few films featuring her and have known her name for as long as I can remember, but do sense I've not watched as much as I ought to have done; a bit like George Clooney. Jolie is outstanding here, no doubt about it.
Pierfrancesco Favino and Alba Rohrwacher are also sizeable parts of this, they ensure that the movie holds much heart - I genuinely cared for Ferruccio & Bruna as much as Maria by the end, so credit to them both. Haluk Bilginer and Kodi Smit-McPhee are most noteworthy from the rest.
My only criticism (and it's barely that, if at all) would be that the singing audio isn't the most convincing when paired up with Jolie's lip-synching. It's quite obvious, but then again I guess it is a very tough element to sync up perfectly; especially with such a unique voice.
I watched this at the cinema straight after seeing Robert Zemeckis' 'Here'. No bad decisions were made.