johnklem I'm talking about the negative reviewers here. I can only suppose it's a case of "Hell has no fury...". This is a terrific movie. In some ways this is the quintessence of art - a beautifully formed fantasy designed to reveal a hidden aspect of its subject. Quite why it's so divisive I don't know. Zeffireli is a genuine artist. He doesn't always get it right but this time the elements are all there - a subject he cares passionately for, a wonderfully whimsical conceit and the perfect conduit in Fanny Ardant. The result is as good an insight into an artist's soul as I've seen and a deeply moving and memorable film. Fanny Ardat is a French national treasure. France has at least a dozen brilliant actresses and Ardant is one of them but she's not often given such a meaty role. Here, her performance made me think at times of Falconetti. It's that good. The supporting players are, with one exception, fine and do what's needed. It's Ardant's show. The exception is Joan Plowright. She plays her journalist as a cuddly Miss Marple type and it just doesn't work. It's bad casting and I imagine that Zeffirelli had a personal reason for giving her the role. Joking aside, the negative reviews are very hard to understand. Skimpy budget shows? Not at all. It looks great thanks to Zeffirelli's eye for composition and design. Choppy and disconnected? I watched the 108 minute cut and wouldn't have changed a single edit. To file this film under "gay interest" or "for fans of opera only" is to miss the point. This is a thoroughly entertaining and enlightening film about an extraordinary artist, anchored by an extraordinary central performance.

ranchero336 Got me excited. Golly... It's hard to decide which girl has more personality, Ardant or Callas. Brilliant cast, that's for sure. Anyhow, this movie is worth watching because - as a smart film maker once stated - it reaches the parts that Heineken don't reach. Voila. We all know Callas had trouble with being a star. In the sense that it's lonesome at the top. Isn't it just... But what if you're desperate for a comeback but you know at the same time that you're not able to pull it off? And, besides, what if you're all of a sudden realize that you're way older than you realized? Age just sneaked up on you. My my... This movie is one of my all time favorites. Sets a wonderful memorial for Maria Callas and - once more - proves Fanny Ardant to be the brilliant actress she is.

MikeF-6 I have never been much interested in Zeffirelli as a film director. Of his 22 directing credits, I have only seen four others- 3 of Shakespeare and 1 film of an opera based on Shakespeare. But he has come through with a great one here. It has a 2002 date but is just now getting a limited release in the U.S. Zeffirelli directs his own story and screenplay of a fictional account involving opera legend Maria Callas, sort of a what-might-have-been scenario based on his memories of his long professional association and personal friendship with Callas. The story takes place in 1977. Jeremy Irons plays a music promoter who is based loosely on Zeffirelli himself. When he flies into Rome, his job is managing PR for a heavy metal rock band. He tries to get in to see his old friend, Callas, but she has barricaded herself inside her apartment, being a long time in grief over the loss of her singing voice and the loss of Aristotle Onassis. Irons finally does talk to her and convinces her to take part in a comeback of sorts. Callas had recorded Bizet's "Carmen", but never performed it on stage. She agrees to appear in a film of Carmen where she will lip-sync to her older recording. This sets up a number of professional, personal, and ethical minefields for all involved. In the person of the great French actress Fanny Ardant, we see all of the diva's depth of emotion, her temperament, her grief, and her great talent. Callas was the whole package: her voice was an astounding musical instrument, but she was also a consummate stage actress who could deliver a powerful characterization with both her body and her voice – her singing was much more than just technical skill. Ardant embodies this temperamental talent to the max. Irons does his best work in years. In a parallel construction, as Callas' life begins to come together again, Irons' life falls into crisis as he struggles to save his career and his new relationship with a handsome young artist. The film features a lot of Callas' music, often in quite long excerpts, which is beautiful and devastating. More importantly, we get to see several long scenes from "Carmen" – the movie within the movie – and it looks wonderful. I really, really want to see that movie! I went to this at a local art house on Stupor Bowl Sunday afternoon. They had booked it into their smallest auditorium and were only running three shows that day. The house was packed! My Lovely Wife and I showed up – as we thought – a little early, but had to sit apart. A friend went the next Wednesday night and it was packed again – Wednesday night! At my showing as well as my friend's, nobody left when the closing credits ran (Callas singing "Casta Diva"), there was tremendous applause, and at the Wednesday night showing, my friend heard several gasps of astonishment. A week later, I am still all goose-pimply from the thought of the experience. See it. You won't regret it.

tlavs 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.