Maria Callas, Angelina Jolie and thinness as an obsession

We are obsessed with women's bodies. It's not the first time this has been said, it won't be the last, and we will continue for years to write and reflect on the morbid obsession with judging people's physiques, especially when they belong to a specific category. However, cinema has found a way to frame and contextualize the female body, using icons over time to create patterns that, within the unique context of a particular person and their story, reveal a universal connection among us. Or, at least, to someone similar. An example? Maria by Pablo Larraín, starring Angelina Jolie.

What Maria Callas and Angelina Jolie Have in Common

While researching Maria, Pablo Larraín and casting head Maurilio Mangano—together with colleagues Mathilde Snodgrass, Sofia Dimopoulou, and Katalin Baranyi—discovered echoes of Callas' past that still resonate today when we hear, talk, or read about Angelina Jolie. Thinness was a lifelong struggle for the Greek soprano, whose final days are depicted in the film, premiered at Venice81. Similarly, Jolie, a “diva” of the cinema, has rarely been granted the privacy to care for her body without public scrutiny. Her weight fluctuations have often sparked theories and commentary, perpetuating a narrative that has followed her throughout her life and career.

In this context, casting Jolie to explore Maria Callas' existence and public persona amplifies the message of the work and the protagonist’s image it seeks to convey. In Larraín's film, the final days of the singer's life are interwoven with reflections on her physique and the extreme thinness that marked her, even in death. Ironically, even before the premiere at the Palazzo del Casinò on the Lido, photographers rushed to send out images of Jolie on the red carpet, wrapped in a custom-made gown by Tamara Ralph and a fur stole, to fuel the narrative that Angelina Jolie was “too thin” once again.

Maria Callas and Her Relationship with Her Body

As the film unfolds, a direct link emerges between the way Callas was perceived—as a victim of the feminine ideal of a slender, elongated figure—and the Hollywood standards that for decades dictated beauty norms, exacerbating a relentless pursuit of perfection. For Callas, the idea of needing to be thin became a conviction she carried to the end of her life, making her body's fragility the counterpart to her voice's power. Her decision to lose weight followed her meeting with Milanese designer Elvira Leonardi Bouyeure, known as Biki, who famously remarked, “If I had to dress a woman like her, I’d go crazy. She’s so disproportionately overweight that nothing she wears could suit her. We couldn’t honor such a fascinating woman unless she shed some pounds.”

The repercussions? Fifty pounds lost, a strict diet that dominated her life, and the belief that she needed to remain thin for the rest of her days. It’s hard to accept the notion of Maria Callas driven solely by ambitions linking thinness to success, particularly since her fame began while she weighed around 100 kilograms. Then came the obsession and documentation of her “progress.” During the 1952 Gioconda at La Scala, she weighed 92 kilograms; for the 1953 Norma in Trieste, the scale showed 80. By 1954, for Don Carlo at the Piermarini, she was down to 64 kilograms. Even after shedding 36 kilograms in two years, Callas aimed for a specific number: 54 kilograms. Between 1955 and 1957, she neared her ideal of beauty, coinciding with her becoming a muse to Luchino Visconti and Pier Paolo Pasolini.

Angelina Jolie: A Privacy That Was Never Respected

For Angelina Jolie, the experience was comparable, though not identical. At fifteen, she reportedly faced early eating disorders, suffering from anorexia that led her family to seek specialized care. In 2007, following her mother's death, similar issues seemingly reemerged. Or so it seemed, because unlike Callas, Jolie never disclosed her relationship with her body to the public. Yet, that hasn’t stopped speculation.

Information often came from third parties, such as her father Jon Voight or ex-husband Brad Pitt, who in 2016 were reportedly concerned and involved in her rehabilitation. During the *Maleficent: Mistress of Evil* press tour, Radar Online claimed Jolie weighed 35 kilograms based on photos that nutritionists allegedly analyzed. Hardly a standard medical consultation. Jolie had also met with specialists for a preventive mastectomy due to her BRCA1 gene mutation and family history, along with a 2015 oophorectomy. These deeply personal issues, which Jolie discussed in a 2013 *New York Times* article, were used as additional speculation about her weight.

Two Divas Become One in Maria

Thus, in a casting decision transcending performance, Pablo Larraín brings two “divine” women together in Maria, as mirror reflections often at the mercy of others. They become one under the respectful and elegant lens of the director, who asserts that talent soars above all—beyond weight and convention.