Having spent a number of years on becoming one of the biggest actresses on the planet, Angelina Jolie has slowed down on the film front, with her career in front of the camera seemingly taking a back seat for her fairly large family (she has six children), as well as her humanitarian work.

She has decided to step back into the limelight once again however, to play legend of the world of opera, Maria Callas.

Living in Paris with her butler Feruccio (Pierfrancesco Favino) and housemaid Bruna (Alba Rohrwacher) is Maria Callas (Jolie). Due to ill health she hasn’t been on the stage for four and a half years, and although she has no intention of singing in public again, she is keen, to at least try, to be able to sing as she once did.

Her health makes that difficult however, as do the pills that she takes, that make her hallucinate, as she begins to take stock of her life and where her incredible voice has taken her.

This is the third entry in the unofficial trilogy by Chilean director Pablo Larraín of strong, real life women, that started with 2016’s Jackie about Jacqueline Kennedy, followed by 2021’s Spencer about Princess Diana, and now this.

And much like those other two films, this also isn’t a biography per se; it’s set a week before her death, as she literally tries to find her voice once again.

Larraín’s film, scripted by Steven Knight, is impressively elegant, tastefully shot in some swish locales, as well as utilising black and white flashbacks to good effect, giving it a polished sheen of style and grace throughout.

But the main focus is the star herself, which in this case is both Callas and Jolie’s superb take on her. Jolie is understated, never raising her voice except when to sing, often using her own singing voice mixed with that of Callas’ vocals.

It’s a fascinating look at a truly fascinating woman, who although led an incredibly glamorous life, also had a childhood that was subjected to a fair amount of trauma.

But as well as getting an insight into the career of this remarkable woman, the director is keen to develop the relationship between the star and her staff, who although she treats as staff, also sees them as family – the only family she has, for that matter. And it is some of these scenes featuring the three of them that are the most touching.

You kind of have to wonder if Jolie saw parallels with her subject with her own life; a talented woman whose career has shifted out of the limelight – as far as her professional life is concerned at any rate – only to make a return to see if she still has it. And yes, she certainly does. She gives the kind of performance whereby the audience is just drawn to her in every scene, even by the deliberate stillness of it all.

It is a film of almost overwhelming and staggering beauty, with the director leaving us in no uncertain terms that Maria was a supremely talented and formidable individual, much like the woman playing her, in what could possibly be a career-defining role for Jolie, who is most definitely on song.