I didn’t need to see Maria, the movie starring Angelina Jolie about the last week of Maria Callas’s life to know that it would feature a woman disintegrating as she remembers past triumphs and disasters.

Yes, Maria is based on the true story of Greek opera singer Maria Callas, who died of a heart attack in 1977, when she was only 53 years old. Maria imagines the last few days of Callas’s life, in which once the once-great opera singer struggles with a drug addiction, hallucinations, and her declining health.

Angelina Jolie completely transforms into opera superstar Maria Callas in Pablo Larraín's "Maria" through the hands of the Oscar winner's personal makeup and hair team, Adruitha Lee and Pamela Goldammer.

WHAT IT'S ABOUT Angelina Jolie plays the renowned opera singer Maria Callas in this biopic, which like the other similar films from its director, Pablo Larraín, tells this enormously impactful person's story through the prism of a fixed moment in her life.

Director Pablo Larraín is fixated on immensely powerful women in times of great personal crisis, but the startling emotional intimacy he brought to stories about Jacqueline Kennedy ("Jackie") and Princess Diana ("Spencer") is lacking in "Maria," his portrait of opera's supreme diva, Maria Callas.

Angelina Jolie has gained new appreciation for opera singers after she "nearly passed out" during lessons for her role as famed soprano Maria Callas in 'Maria'.

Angelina Jolie opens up about personal struggles, her comeback in ‘Maria,’ and reigniting her passion for storytelling.