Maria review – Angelina Jolie plays the diva in magnificent stroll around the cult of Callas

Larraín’s film is about Callas but it is also about Jolie, in the same way that Limelight was about Chaplin and Last Tango in Paris about Brando. The Chilean director takes the 49-year-old actor, once the most bankable star in the world, and hangs her like a painting to be stared at, or a priceless statue to be circled. Much will no doubt be made of the fact that Jolie trained for several months to sing the songs in the film, her voice multi-tracked and blended with that of Callas herself. But this is primarily a trophy appointment, the ultimate prestige casting. She’s there because of who she is at least as much as what she does.