How Angelina Jolie demonstrated her true voice in a “celebration of tragedy” in the haunting final scene

Warning: This article contains spoilers about the ending of Mary.

It may seem obvious, but Angelina Jolie’s performance in Pablo Larraín’s stirring biographical drama Mary The ending with an absolutely perfect high note still hits hard.

In a detailed explanation of the film’s powerful, emotional ending, Larraín narrates Weekly entertainment that the note was entirely real and that Jolie maintained her real singing voice until it was time to film the ending, releasing her singing for her final take on set.

“Basically she’s asking God what happened. She says, ‘I have dedicated my life to art,'” Larraín says of the final number, which Callas (Jolie) sings in her lonely Paris apartment as the actress is positioned near the windows of her apartment.

The scene comes at the end of the Chilean filmmaker’s narrative, which repeatedly places the real Callas – an esteemed opera singer – in a difficult professional and personal situation, where she struggles with an ailing body and a perceived loss of her voice, both mentally and physically also physically. As she finally sings for the last time in her apartment, Larraín trains his camera not only on Jolie’s performance, but also on those watching outside her window, as the French city’s busy streets full of people stop and listen to Callas belt out her final tune .

Even if the actual singer didn’t receive such a grand farewell from this world (Callas died of a heart attack in 1977 at the age of 53), the director hopes that addressing her death and her legacy for today’s audience in this way will give her the gift of the finale that she deserves.

“Listen to (the song) and find a correct translation. These words define the ending of the film and the life of Maria Callas. It’s probably the song she sang the most,” says Larraín Tosca“Vissi d’arte,” the song Jolie sings in the scene. “She breaks down because she’s ready for it, it’s a beautiful way to celebrate her life.” There’s something in this film where we wanted to make a film that somehow shows that she is the sum of the characters, that she played, that is, the sum of the tragedies that she played on stage for so many years. It is a celebration of a tragedy.

Related: How Angelina Jolie Moved Mary Director Moved to Tears as She ‘Burns’ With Emotion (Exclusive)

Jolie pushed herself to the limit for the scene, which Larraín confirms was shot “on the last day of shooting” and that he intentionally kept it “until the very, very end” of the process to preserve its symbolic nature in relation to Callas’ to reflect life. Life.

“Angelina had to sing it loudly, with all her strength and humanity. In this way, I asked her to feel the emotion and to feel how broken she was in that moment of joy,” recalls Larraín, admitting that watching Jolie handle the scene moved him to tears. “You give everything you have to sing this piece of music where you finally get your voice back…. At the same time it’s a lot of fun because you can hear yourself, a singer only controls his voice, you control your voice because you control your ears. This gives you joy because you’re finally here, but at the same time it breaks you and it doesn’t let you breathe. This kind of mix of demands and emotions was something very difficult and I couldn’t believe how beautiful what was happening in front of the camera was.

As for the narrative: After Maria’s body is found by her long-time companions and collaborators Ferruccio (Pierfrancesco Favino) and Bruna (Alba Rohrwacher), the last shot of the film shows the couple embracing and accepting their fate, which is now forced is finding your way through the world without your long-time guiding star.

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The shot of Ferruccio and Bruna embracing each other is reminiscent of an earlier scene in which Callas, finally coming to terms with her impending fate, tells the couple over a game of cards that she hopes they continue to be comrades after their deaths – This is a comforting thought for Callas, because she consoles herself with the belief that her life served only one purpose: to provide others with real, tangible happiness that remains even after her death.

“There is something beautiful about this decision, and the final shot is very wistful. You look and wonder what life is like now. Someone they love has died and it’s a moment when you feel like a stranger in your own life, a strange situation,” Larraín states. “They served this woman for many years, they became family, and now she is gone. You ask yourself, ‘What is life like?’ It’s an existential moment of beauty, and I thought it was the right note to end it, for both of them to look at infinity instead of sadness, but also to understand that it was their decision, and they somehow pass it off with one Mixture of joy and sadness. It’s a cocktail of emotions coming together.

Mary is now streaming on Netflix.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly