All language subtitles for BBC.Maria.by.Callas.2017.1080p.HDTV.x265.AAC.MVGroup.org_Subtitles01_Unnamed

On the whole, there are two people
in me. I would like to be Maria,

but there is the Callas
that I have to live up to,

so I'm coping with both
as much as I can.

And, in a crunch,
who has to win - Maria or Callas?

I like to think that
they both go together,

because Callas has been Maria

and in my singing and in my work

my own self has been there
every second.

I've done nothing falsely,
I've worked with all honesty,

so Maria has... If somebody really
tries to listen to me seriously,

one will find all of myself
in there.

MUSIC: Ah! Quanto Cielo!
from Madama Butterfly by Puccini

Madame Callas, one music critic
notes, has restored

the ancient lustre
to the title of prima donna.

Leonard Bernstein calls her
"pure electricity".

Good evening, Madame Callas.

Good evening. And welcome home.
Thank you very much.

I know that many people are under
the impression that you're Italian

and are not aware that actually

you grew up in New York,
isn't that right?

Yes, not only was I born in New York
- not in Brooklyn as they say -

not that there's anything
wrong with Brooklyn, of course,

but just for the sake of truth...

But I was brought up

in America, in New York -

and I'm rather proud of that, too.

Madame Callas, what do you remember
most about your schooldays?

Well, very happy days,
I must say - carefree days.

I remember we had a principal
who was very severe and he kept on

saying, "Now, children, self-control
- remember that all your lives."

I am, though it's hard
sometimes to remember it.

And also I always used to sing
each year for the graduation,

you know, I was a little singer
of the school.

I sang operettas and I sang, well,
Chinese princes and a sailor

and certain things like that,
as much as I remember.

I've never been able to
pronounce the last name.

Would you do it for me? In Greek?
In Greek.

Are you ready? Yes. Kalogeropoulos.

Well, it's rather long.

And that's why
your father changed it to Callas?

Yes, I'm afraid so.

It was already done by the time
I understood any different.

My mother was rather ambitious

and my father wanted me
to have a musical education.

I started on piano
at eight years old.

It's cruelty, I think.
In fact, please forgive me,

but I must say there must be
a law against it.

Children should not be given
this responsibility.

They don't last long. Children
should have a wonderful childhood.

I had not had it.
I wish I could have.

We left for Greece in 1937,
so I had just gone into high school.

So I went to Greece
and I couldn't continue school there

because my mother
decided on my singing career.

You enjoyed your childhood?
You enjoyed being young, did you?

Yes, the little I did have of it
I really did enjoy.

And then you went to Greece

and you were caught in
Greece for the...? The war.

..duration of the war? Yes.

What are your memories of that?
Er, that was hard.

I confess that that was a bit hard,
but it doesn't hurt anybody -

you know, hardship does one good.

And as soon as I went to Greece
I was put into the Conservatoire,

but I had an age problem.

My age problem was I was
only 13 years old and I couldn't

enter the Conservatory
unless I was at least 17,

but I was a tall girl and I could
justify very well saying a lie.

It was the first lie in my life.

My mother didn't allow me

to stay in front of the mirror
for more than five minutes.

I had to study.

I couldn't waste time
with such nonsense

and certainly I owe it to
her strictness if today I have

vast and extensive
artistic experience.

I was finally accepted
at the Conservatoire of Athens -

where I was entrusted to the
wonderful teacher Elvira de Hidalgo.

To this illustrious Spanish artist
I say with a moved, devoted

and grateful heart I owe all my
stage and musical training.

This elect creature who, besides
giving me her precious teachings,

gave me her whole heart and was
a witness to all my life in Athens.

With her, more than anyone,
I felt like family.

MUSIC: Merce, Dilette Amiche
from Les Vepres Siciliennes by Verdi

INAUDIBLE

MUSIC CONTINUES

APPLAUSE

I would have preferred to have
a happy family and have children.

I think that is the main vocation
of a woman.

But destiny brought me into this
career, I couldn't get out, and...

..I was forced into it
quite frequently,

first by my mother,
then by my husband.

I would have given it up
with pleasure,

but destiny is destiny
and there's no way out.

REPORTERS CLAMOUR

APPLAUSE

INDISTINCT CHATTER

You have a reputation
for being a good actress.

Do you consider it necessary
and essential to be an actress?

Oh, yes! I should say.

I don't think
you would even want an artist,

a real artist that cannot act.

I'm quite sure you don't.

You just don't bother
to go to the opera any more.

And opera can be a very silly thing,

but it can be the most gorgeous
thing in the world.

You also have a reputation

as one of the most tempestuous
opera stars in the world.

Well, um, I don't know
what you mean by tempestuous.

There's been lots of, uh,
talk about it, too,

and I haven't quite understood
what it means.

ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYS

ACTRESS AS MARIA CALLAS:
The saddest evening of my career

started out as
a very promising one.

I could never have predicted
the wave of violence and cruelty

that would be unleashed upon me

after that performance so painfully
aborted on January 2nd.

The papers - not only in
Rome and Italy,

but all over Europe and America -

with few exceptions
that moved me for being so rare,

set aside all international
political events

and reserved their front pages,

their headlines and their
chronicles to my poor name.

It was the ideal time
to drag it through the mud

and make me pay dearly
for my successes.

Yet everything had begun so well,
superbly well, even.

The rehearsals had gone
to everybody's satisfaction,

but when I returned to
my dressing room,

a freezing room in a theatre
that had been closed and unused

for several months, a cold wind
was blowing through the cracks.

I felt a sudden chill and the
beginnings of a rasp in my throat.

I woke up in the middle of
the night and realised

that not a sound could come
out of my mouth, not one word.

I was completely mute.

But that evening was sold out.

People were expecting to see
La Callas.

I was suddenly swamped with fear.

DRAMATIC ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYS

I have been called the Tigress,

and on that evening,
the Tigress entered

the splendid yet
terrifying theatre.

In my dressing room,
I was getting ready,

with my voice hanging by a thread.

APPLAUSE

The numerous remedies had
temporarily soothed my throat,

but that was not enough.

I had bronchitis, which, of course,

could not be cured
in such short time.

Once the effect of
the treatments wore off,

my voice just disappeared.

JEERING AND WHISTLING

Yes, the head of state
was there that evening,

but there was another figure
in the theatre

worthy of utmost respect,

someone whose name had even been
printed on the posters.

Vincenzo Bellini.

I could not,
for the sake of protocol,

offend this great musician
by moaning rather than singing

the other acts of his Norma.

So on that evening of January 2nd

at the Rome Opera, the first act
of Norma was performed,

perhaps not perfectly,
but well enough.

The other acts were not insulted.

The following day,
I realised my lynching had begun

with unprecedented violence.

Yet, I didn't outrage the public
or the institutions.

I didn't disgrace the President.

I didn't endanger the life
of Italian lyric theatre.

I simply had bronchitis.

Then I recalled the words
from La Traviata,

the words of my Violetta,

which Verdi had cloaked
in a bitter melody.

"Hence to the miserable soul
who one day has fallen,

"any hope of resurrection
is forever stolen."

MUSIC: Addio Del Passato
from La Traviata by Verdi

Miss Callas, welcome to Chicago.

How do you feel?
Thank you. Fine, thank you.

Why won't you talk to the press, Mrs
Callas? Why won't you talk to us?

You have a bad press
because you won't talk to newsmen.

Will you discuss the Rome incident?
I don't discuss the Rome incident.

It's closed for me. Please,
gentlemen, I'm here for Chicago.

Maria! Look over here, please.

Can we get in closer? Maria!

Madame Callas,
in the last few years,

particularly since
you've been associated with the Met,

you've received a tremendous amount
of adverse publicity.

How do you account for that?

I have been brought
to exasperating situations,

as you fully realise,

and yet I have borne them with...

..calmness and with patience.

Time does heal lots of things,

and I'm quite sure time
will prove what I am, actually.

There came
the point where I had to decide,

now, is Madame Callas running
the Met, or am I running the Met?

And at that time,
I was still running the Met

and said so and cancelled our
agreement.

So you really did fire
Maria Callas from the Metropolitan?

If you want to use that ugly word,
that is so, yes.

I don't think Maria Callas is fired.

Maria Callas is severed
from our relationship.

APPLAUSE

Why in Dallas and not here?

That's something I'd like
to tell him.

Why doesn't he do these performances
at the Met?

And I would be there with pleasure.

Did he have to go and say, "Aah!
She's an impossible person!" Why?

I'm quite sure he's met so many
other impossible people.

He just completely got even with me
for all the things that

he could not get even
with other people.

That is what I call bad destiny.
I was unlucky.

Because my other colleagues
have really hurt him much more.

That's why he respects me
and he really, sincerely,

I'm sure, loves me.

But he's a weak man.

I suppose I pay the consequences

of so many other... You know,
like a glass that fills up,

and then I was the thing
that filled his glass up.

Of course I was appalled.
I just refused, uh,

next year's contract,
because he offered me

the old repertoire, that is,
the old Norma staging.

Which you all saw.

Which she's done time and time
again.

Norma, Barbiere, Barber of Seville,

Traviata, Lucia, and I said,

"No, I'm sorry, I cannot do
routine."

I want new performances,
staged well.

You know, like here, like a little
young Dallas is doing. My God.

Yes, I suppose that made him angry.
I don't know.

I mean, I can't explain it
otherwise.

And then yesterday,
I received a telegram saying,

"Either you answer me..."

Yesterday at around 3:30pm, I think,

just before I left
for the theatre, and he said,

"Either you answer me tomorrow

"or breach of agreement
and contract terminated."

I don't know what got into the man.

I cannot do those - excuse me -
lousy performances.

And I cannot change artists every
performance, now you can know it.

Each performance we have,
if we do ten Macbeths,

ten different tenors,
ten baritones.

So I'm sorry, I can't do that.
That's not art.

Well, I mean, let's get it out now
while we're at it.

Do you know that last year
I did Traviata never seeing the set?

Never seeing the set,
never seeing my colleagues.

Do you think that's right?
Is that seriously good theatre?

Now, I kept these things quiet.
All my friends knew about it.

APPLAUSE

ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYS

When you're not busy recording
or appearing in opera...

I know what you're going to ask.
What do I do?

There you are.
Yes. Hobbies? Nothing.

Nothing? Nothing.

I just live a human life.
Well, well, good for you.

I have lots of fresh air.

I just, when it rains,
I go out, and I don't care

if I get wet, you know,
just to relax the nerves.

I do some cooking. I love to cook.
Do you?

Now, for instance, my husband bought
a little house on the lake,

and he's buying a little motorboat.

In Italy? In Italy.

And so I'm dying to learn how to
drive the little thing

and just go and enjoy myself.

And, well, I must say, I have a very
ridiculous and embarrassing hobby.

My husband always pulls my leg
for it.

But it's just something, you know,
a mania, shall we call it.

I love recipes.

I know I'll never use them.

But wherever I find a recipe,
on a newspaper, on a magazine,

I just tear it out
and I stick it in a book,

you know, I paste it on.

It's the only hobby,
really, that I have.

Isn't it ridiculous?

I know it is, but there you are.

I'm going to cut out something I saw
the other day and send it to you.

Oh, thank you. I'd love it.

For no reason, because I
don't cook if I can avoid it.

Then there is another hobby
that I would like to pick up.

It is the carillon. Oh, really?

Although there is one trouble,
that I have too good an ear,

so when I hear them, you know,

doing something I don't like,
I get angry.

But I do love carillons.
But I don't know how they...

I'm afraid
I'm very old-fashioned even in that.

Well, old-fashioned or no,
have you ever considered

doing musical comedies,
Madame Callas?

Well, I've even been offered
musical comedies.

I make a confession. Uh-huh.

I think that's going
a little too far, though.

Can you imagine me, the tragic dame,
singing musical comedy?

Though I admit,
I would enjoy myself sometimes.

DOG BARKS
Though it bothers the dog.

He's my little one,
my little monster of the house.

What's his name? Toy.

Well, what name could you give
a little thing like that?

So, um, that's why I, uh...

I think it is more difficult
for a woman

to run a fabulously wonderful family
than a career.

But to do both is very...
I have made a career.

Uh, it doesn't work together.

I doubt whether
being a good mother at home

can make you also
a wonderful career woman.

Not my job.

It doesn't work.
Really? What would you...

It's a full-time job, my career.

MUSIC: Nel Di Della Vittoria, Vieni!
T'affretta! from Macbeth by Verdi

INAUDIBLE

MUSIC CONTINUES

APPLAUSE

I was dying to ask this question...

And I was trying to think
of how to ask it.

The gentleman, Aristotle Onassis,
is a mutual friend.

He's a good friend and I think
he's a delightful man.

And I wondered what you thought
were his greatest qualities.

Oh, you can ask. We're the finest
of friends. I've always said that.

And I'm quite sure that
he considers me his best friend.

And that's a lot in life.

He's charming, very sincere...

..spontaneous.

So these are qualities
that are very good. Absolutely.

When did you first meet?
A long time ago?

1957, I think, in Venice.

And we were on the beach and we met,
then we became fine friends,

and we've stayed, and we will be,
all our lives we hope.

ACTRESS AS MARIA CALLAS:
It was destiny

that gave birth to
my friendship with Aristo.

I joined the cruise on the Christina
to please my husband,

who was very keen to go.

Battista only cared for money
and position.

What can you do when you no
longer trust your husband?

I thought of Meneghini as
a sheltering screen at first to

protect me from the outside world.

And he did that,
until my fame went to his head.

Battista should've use more
diplomacy in his negotiations

with the theatres.

His methods backfired
and I had to pay the consequences.

That was the beginning
of the end of our marriage.

It was not Onassis or the money.

From the very beginning
of the cruise, I realised that

Aristo was the kind of friend
I had been looking for.

I was very impressed by his charm,
his strong personality,

and the charismatic way
he held everyone's attention.

He was not only full of life,
he was a source of life.

One night, after a long
and irritating argument

with my husband, I went out on deck
for some air and some solitude.

There was Aristo,
contemplating the dark sea.

I'm sure our friendship began there.

I had found something
I deeply needed

and had never encountered before.

He made me feel liberated...

..and very feminine.

I came to love him deeply.

Dear Walter and Judy,

I've had a wonderful time
on the cruise

and we were back
one week later than planned.

I'm afraid I'm going to give you
some bad and shocking news.

I'm separating from Battista.

I hope, dear friends,
that this won't murder me.

I've been through quite a bit and
there's a lot of disillusionment.

Don't be alarmed by newspapers
if and when they come out.

Dear friends,
pray for your poor Maria.

Can you talk for a minute,
please, for us? I'm sorry.

Can you tell us why you left Dallas?
I'm sorry. I can't talk.

When are you going to be
going to Italy?

I'm leaving this afternoon
on the jet.

How do you feel about the court
litigation that is coming up?

I'm giving no interviews.
Do you mind, gentlemen?

Miss Callas, did you have
any disagreements in Dallas?

I'm giving no interview.
Did you have any trouble in Dallas?

None at all.
I'm giving no interview.

The only reason... Don't push me,
please. Are you going to marry

Mr Onassis? I'm not answering
any interview. Now stop it.

Miss Callas, is all this attention
a disturbance? Why not?

When you're nice, I smile.

When you push me around,
I don't like it.

We don't mean to push you.

I wish you'd stand still
so I wouldn't have to.

But I have to walk, you know.

THEY LAUGH

Miss Callas, do you hope this trip
will end this romantic squabble?

This is no romantic squabble.
It's a separation. That's all.

Have you talked to Mr Onassis?
I talk to all my friends.

Can you tell us when the last time
you spoke to him was?

Do you expect to see Mr Onassis
when you go to Europe?

I hope I see all my friends and
I hope I see Mr Onassis. Why not?

Do you deny the...

I am answering no more questions.

That's all, gentlemen.

CROWD CLAMOUR

ORCHESTRAL MUSIC

INAUDIBLE

ACTRESS AS MARIA CALLAS: It will be
so nice to be able to come home

and have a nice, honest shoulder
to lean on.

I had hoped that of my husband.
I was so wrong.

Glory went to his head.

Glory goes to people's head,
not my head.

Glory terrifies me.

It feels quite
uncomfortable up there.

But other people around you,
they get drunk.

It's a wine that goes to the head.

INAUDIBLE

He was a good person, I thought.

I told my mother I was not
well-off and I was alone,

and I felt that this person
really loved me,

but I'm afraid that he loved
what I represented.

He wanted so much that
I be La Divina.

For instance, he was
taking things out on people,

as he was nothing special.

You mentioned you were persecuted.

What period of your life were
you referring to? At the end...?

When I separated from my husband.

That was very hard.

And about two years before.

I don't know why it was
sort of a style to attack...me.

And I am the kind of type that
cannot defend myself

because I find it useless.

First of all, the newspapermen
have the last word.

So it's no use to fight.

And then I don't like
to defend myself.

I feel that time
takes care of things.

In what way...? You were blamed
for things that weren't your...

I was blamed for things,
I was misunderstood,

they took me for fiery, tempestuous,

cancelling performances
and this and that and...

There was no end to that.

I have cancelled performances,

but very few in comparison to
other singers.

I was very famous.
I suppose it's a compliment, again,

but when I was not well,
I couldn't do performances,

so I was blamed, you know.

And so these things hurt,

and at a certain moment,
you have to rest

to re-dimension things and to...

You say you plan to get a divorce

when this new law comes in,
in Italy? Yes.

Well, I've been separated
for 11 years. It's a long time.

JAZZ BAND PLAYS: Stormy Weather

ACTRESS AS MARIA CALLAS:
Aristo was adorable.

Straight and fearless,

and his boyish attitude
made him irresistible.

He was only rarely difficult
and uncompromising,

unlike some of his friends.

He could be generous to a fault.

And I don't mean only
materialistically.

He was never petty.

He never interfered with my art,
except to tell me that I should

not feel under any obligation
to continue my singing career.

Obviously, he said the stress had
come to be too great,

and as I had more than done my duty
- his words, not mine -

I was entitled to relax
and enjoy my well-earned money.

He would have liked for me

to make films, as he believed
it would've been less tiring for me.

Dear Walter, I'll probably rest

for the beginning
of the coming year.

I owe it to myself
and to my voice.

Next year, I'll start again,

but right now I'll just let myself
be tired of resting,

until I feel like working again,

and will then work.

I've really lost interest
in my art

with all the pushing my husband did.

So now I intend to love my art
by desiring it.

I must confirm what everybody says -
you've really changed completely.

You're another woman.
Are you happy?

Well, I am much happier,
but no real artist could be happy.

It has been said that even
your voice has changed in quality.

An artist develops in years.

Shall we say that now you
become a tamed animal?

Before, you just
do things by instinct.

I still do and, in fact,
if people come to my performances,

they will never find them
exactly the same,

because I feel that it should be,
at the moment, given instinctively,

but we also learn, we suffer,
we develop, we mature,

so therefore, from year to year,
we, of course, change

our interpretation,
but I have to feel what I do.

I have to like people
to be with them.

I just cannot learn the art of
being a hypocrite. I wish I could.

APPLAUSE

MUSIC: Elegie
by Francois Virot

MUSIC: Zorba's Dance
by Mikis Theodorakis

INAUDIBLE

MUSIC CONTINUES

APPLAUSE

Maria Callas.

MUSIC: Voi Lo Sapete, O Mamma from
Cavalleria Rusticana by Mascagni

APPLAUSE

ACTRESS AS MARIA CALLAS:
My dear and illustrious colleague,

as I explained to you
in my letter from Monte Carlo,

I was operated on for a hernia

and was unable to offer
my beloved maestro

the apogean performance
he well deserved.

I do not have, dear friend,

the physical strength
to face the arena once more.

Everyone has faith in me -

you, the maestro, the critics,

but I cannot get over that evening
at the Rome Opera,

and how much I suffered.

Perhaps if I had been 20 or 30
I wouldn't care,

and the joyful dance of the spirit,
as you say,

would help me forget
and move forward.

But I don't think I have
the strength to risk facing such

cruelty any longer.

My soul would not recover.

At least, that's how I feel now.

I need time.

I would like to thank you,
from the bottom of my heart,

for having written to me, and for
the respect you have shown me.

Please know that
I will never forget it.

And thank your wife also.

I envy your family.

There's no greater wealth on Earth.

MUSIC: Dormono Entrambi
from Norma by Bellini

APPLAUSE

As you look back, are there
things you'd like to change

or do you buy the package wholesale?

I buy the package wholesale.

My God, I never would have dreamed
to come to such a privileged

position, with its good
and with its bad.

I have been -

I have had the possibility
of having inside something that

I could expose to the people, give
to the people, and be understood.

You call this little?

I have had - on the other hand, I
didn't have a family as I wanted to,

and this and that, but...

..being right here
is already a privilege.

Being able to talk,

even if I'm talking badly,
is a privilege.

Miss Callas...

..how did it feel to come back to
New York and the Metropolitan

after an absence of
seven long years?

First of all, enormous happiness
to be, shall we say, at home.

Then I must say, though,
that all the New Yorkers

really made it quite clear that
they considered me back home,

which was, of course, a first
happy thought about it.

Before I went back, I really
sincerely tell you I was terrified.

I didn't want to, and I was
trying to find excuses not to go.

Dennis, how about you,
what brings you out to the line,

is it Miss Callas
or just plain love of opera?

Maria Callas. She's the greatest.

Only for her would I do this.
Nobody else.

How about you, Lex,
what brings you on the line?

Well, I've come specifically
to see Callas.

I think it's a shame she hasn't been
here, and now that she has

agreed to come back, I think
to miss her would be really a crime.

This woman is undoubtedly
the greatest singer of this century.

Why do you think she's so great?

Well, first of all,
as a technician, she's magnificent,

as an actress, she is...

..there's no word to describe her.

And just her magnetism.

She could sing a poor performance.

I have never had an occasion
to hear it,

but she could, and she would
still be just as magnetic as ever.

This woman is just amazing.

Every line, every -
every rest in the score,

has some meaning to Madame Callas.

In your eyes, then,
it's just pure raw genius.

You bet.
HE CHUCKLES

How long have you been in the line?

I've been in line since yesterday
at 4pm.

How have you passed the time?

I...

I've just sat and went across
and had something to eat.

What's going to happen
when she finally gets to appear here

after seven years?

She'll get a 30 minute ovation,
and most likely it will be standing.

Even if I have to be the only one
to stand, I'm very sure.

You think you'll have company? Oh,
I'm sure I will. Very sure, yeah.

TUMULTUOUS APPLAUSE

As soon as I came out,
the applause started enormously.

So what happens... So you
stand there freezing in a position.

..exactly, freezing in a position
that you don't know how,

what to do about,
but especially the great emotion.

I wish we weren't emotional. I
really was crying and I had to sing.

You know, it kept on for about
ten minutes during my singing.

I was just too emotional to do
anything, really, properly well.

It was so overwhelming.
Really incredible.

The warmth of the reception
itself is...

The warmth of the American public,
I'm afraid, it is unique.

They made a point of showing
how much they loved me so.

They deserve every best part of me,
actually.

I couldn't even start to thank
all those people, the letters,

the presents, the flowers,

the adoration that I have had which
I never, never thought, honestly.

That was really unique.

ACTRESS AS MARIA CALLAS:
February 18, 1965.

To Elvira de Hidalgo.

Dear Elvira, my gratitude
for your affection is immeasurable.

You know me.
I'm shy and rather strange,

but you know how to love me as I am.

The rehearsals
went magnificently well,

with the high notes
just like before.

In the third act,
I had a moment of panic and fatigue

but I still sang the C well and
even the last time, superbly well.

If I manage to control myself,
everything should go as planned.

I am still studying and I think of
you with so much love and respect.

Your Maria.

To Grace Kelly.

Dear Grace, I wanted to answer you
sooner but I was busy

gathering my nerves and strength to
fight back on the next performance.

It went perfectly, thank God.

It's hard work, isn't it?

There's always some enemy
ready for a moment of weakness.

I'm dying to finish my work
so I can take a nice rest.

I certainly need it.

I do so hope to see you
and Rainier very soon and thank you,

dear Grace, for your lovely flowers
and letters.

Lots of love, Maria.

PS, Aristo sends you both his love.

APPLAUSE AND CRIES OF "BRAVO!"

OPERATIC SINGING

APPLAUSE

OPERATIC SINGING

APPLAUSE

INAUDIBLE

MUSIC: E Lucevan Le Stelle
from Tosca by Puccini

ACTRESS AS MARIA CALLAS:
June 4, 1965.

Dear Elvira, I've wanted to
write you for a while now

but I couldn't find the time,
or rather the energy.

Changing my voice and technique
during the performances

did no good for my nerves,

which were already strained
after all these years.

After New York, my body shut down.

My blood pressure dropped to seven.

I took a month off to rest, but it

was obvious that my nerves could not
bear a huge role like Norma.

Now, my fatigue is endless

and my rage even more so
for having crumbled like this.

I found an apartment.

And I'm taking care of it for the
moment, 36 Avenue Georges-Mandel.

I am at peace here at home,
peace that has nothing to do with

happiness, which at least
allows my nerves to calm down.

They were the real culprit for
everything, as you once said.

I began at 13 and now I am 41.

I'm not complaining,
but it's a long time.

The soul burns out,
and the energy too.

I'm studying alone.

I have my records
to teach me what I used to do

and my tape recorder
to play me back what I do now,

and what I shouldn't do.

If it works, all the better.
If not, I'll give it all up.

Besides, I have Aristo.
what more could I want?

Don't you find Aristo has changed
a lot for the better?

You've given up your citizenship,
that's correct?

Yes, that is correct. And you're
taking your Greek citizenship back?

I've already taken
my Greek citizenship.

What is the reason behind this,
Madame Callas?

Well, the real reason, I could even
say it, is that I am a free woman,

you see, because during...

..with Greek law, who is not
married after 1946, in church,

is not married.

So you understand?

I understand completely. Now,

do you have any intention to marry
Mr Onassis?

Oh, those are not questions to...

No, right now, I'm a free woman,
and very happy to be,

so that is why I had to give up the
American citizenship, unfortunately.

You understand?

ACTRESS AS MARIA CALLAS:
Aristo, my love,

I know this is
a meagre birthday present,

but I must tell you that,

after eight and a half years
with so much we went through,

I am happy to tell you
from the depths of my heart,

I am proud of you.

I love you, body and soul, and only
wish that you feel the same.

I feel privileged to have reached
the highest level in a tough career

and to be graced by God

to have found you, who went through
hell also, and reached the heights,

and to have us together, as we are.

Try, oh, please do,
to keep us united always,

for I do need your love and respect
forever.

I am too proud to admit it,

but know that
you are my very breath,

brain, pride and tenderness.

That if you could
see into my feelings for you,

you would feel the strongest
and richest man in the entire world.

This is not a child's letter.

This is a hurt, tired, proud woman
that gives you the most fresh

and useful sentiments ever felt.

Never forget that and be always
as tender with me as these days.

And you make me
the queen of the world.

My love, I need affection
and tenderness.

I am yours.

Do as you will with me.

Your soul, Maria.

There is one prayer that I do.
It's my own.

I hope you won't laugh at me.
No. What is it?

Every now and then I say,
"God help me, give me what you want.

"I have no choice, good or bad,

"but give me the strength also
to be able to overcome it."

ACTRESS AS MARIA CALLAS:
Dear Elvira,

I'm doing fairly well,
given the circumstances.

It's as if I've been hit hard
over the head

and I still can't catch my breath.

I received three phone calls.

One I didn't answer.

When I answered the two others,
it was, it was horrible for me.

As I told you, he is irresponsible

and therefore it's really
disgusting for me.

I'm at home in Paris, trying to
sort things out in my head,

which hurts so terribly.

I'm just trying to survive
these few months.

I don't make too much effort
as my mind is weakened,

and so my psyche too.

I really wouldn't know where to go
to get a little rest.

I am so lost,

after so many years of work
and sacrifices for one man,

that I find myself
incapable of knowing where to go.

It's the last straw.

Anyway, if you wish, write to me
here. I send you all my love.

I hope that you don't worry
too much about me.

God has always been my guide.
He will show me the way again.

And I hope that he will give me
the strength

to get through this crisis too.

My dear, sweet, long-time friend,
your Maria...

..always.

INAUDIBLE

Thank you, dear Elvira,
thank you for your kind letter.

It's cruel, isn't it?

But they are both paying for it,
or they will pay, you'll see.

What is worst of all is that he said
nothing to me about the marriage.

I think he at least owed me that
after nine years by his side.

I shouldn't have found out
about it in the papers.

But I consider him a fool and as
such I am erasing him from my mind.

I need to work as soon as possible.

Anyhow, I won't be able to do
anything until next year.

I'm coping rather well
under the circumstances

and I thank you
for all of your affection.

I will write to you soon to tell you
about my possible projects,

given that I haven't decided
anything for now.

All my affection and respect,
as always, your Maria.

MARIA CALLAS: For nine years,
you've been living a hidden life

and a humiliating life
for a person like I am.

And you're not cured in two months.

And I don't have that much time
to get cured.

Next year, I've got to sing somehow
or another,

I don't care at what price.

I've given up a hell of a career.

And it's too easy to say,
oh, thank you very much.

For eight years, nine years,
we did our best to be happy.

"Oh, ain't that sweet?"
as they say vulgarly.

It's so easy to say no resentment.

Sure, Christianity says
you must forgive,

you must have no resentment.

I don't have resentment, but I have
hurt. How do I get rid of that?

One last cigarette
and you drive me home?

The phenomenal publicity that
surrounds your friendship with

Aristotle Onassis, to what
extent does that limit your life?

Does that in fact create a barrier
that prevents you meeting

and talking because you know that
flashbulbs are going to flash?

Of course it's not pleasant
because there is no relaxation.

He is a married man.
Before I was a married woman.

I still am,
but I'm going to get a divorce

if the divorce law comes out, and...

Well, they have created problems.

He had a family. He had children.
Now he has a wife.

I've never met her. Never.

And so, naturally, not having
met her, it could create problems,

I don't know.

I hope not.

Because I'm not the kind of type
that would create problems.

But, I mean, a meeting like that
is made much more difficult

by all the publicity, presumably?

Well, I don't know, it depends on
whether the man needs you.

There are many times that I'm sure
Onassis needs me as a friend.

Because I would tell him the truth.

Not that you men like the truth.

LAUGHTER

Hey, well. Don't we?

Oh, we love it. Ah, no.
We're so grateful for it. Hm.

You're lying!
We're so grateful for the truth.

We can't get enough of it.
LAUGHTER

I'm quite sure though that
Mr Onassis would always come to me

with his problems,
knowing that I would never repeat

and he would find an objective mind.

Now, I bet you're wondering
would I need his friendship?

Yes, I suppose.

Would you go to him
with a problem?

Yes, but I have many friends also

that in the meantime have
taken place.

I mean, just plain good friends.

I would. I would.

THEY CHATTER IN ITALIAN

IN FRENCH:

Everything is timing in life.

What we are trying, I may say,
is to find the human part of Medea,

a woman.

With all the experiences of a woman.

Even more so. Everything is bigger.

Bigger sacrifice...
Everything is bigger.

The scenery is bigger,
the hurt is just there,

just the same as any other woman.

Even more so.

THEY CHATTER IN ITALIAN

How much would you like
to make more films?

SHE SIGHS

I don't have that much experience,

I don't know what this experience
will bring me, so I think

we should talk about that a little
later when I've finished this work.

But I must say that
this role is the...

it's the way we've built it up.
I don't know whether you know it,

and I don't know how
the public will take it,

but I don't think you can find roles
as hard and as vast as this one.

I think we are starting at the end
instead of at the beginning!

INAUDIBLE

MUSIC: Preludio
from I Lombardi by Verdi

Aargh!
LAUGHTER

LAUGHTER

Maria! Maria!

LAUGHTER

MUSIC CONTINUES

INAUDIBLE

ACTRESS AS MARIA CALLAS: At first,
I would not let him into the flat.

But imagine that one day,
he kept on whistling outside

as young men used to do
in Greece 50 years ago.

They wooed their sweethearts
with song.

So I had to let him in
before the press realised

what was going on
on Avenue Georges-Mandel.

Nevertheless,
at the time I was terribly upset,

and thought him a proper bastard.

I used other words
I do not care to repeat.

It was later, when he came back,

and when I began to regain
my lost pride,

that I was able to put things

in a wiser and
more realistic perspective.

Of course, his immediate explanation
was that his marriage was a mistake.

His mistake, not his wife's,
as I bluntly told him.

He got exactly what
he had bargained for,

and he had only himself to blame.

His so-called marriage contract
was a bizarre arrangement

I could never understand.

I took him back.

That is how my great friendship
with Aristo was born.

Let's say a passionate friendship.

After his marriage,
we never quarrelled.

We talked things through
constructively.

He stopped arguing.

There was no longer
the need to prove anything,

either to ourselves
or to one another.

My affair with Onassis
was a failure.

But my friendship with him
was a success.

You recently said
in a newspaper interview,

"I believe I must be just a little
American kid at the back of my mind,

"because I wanted someone,
Prince Charming,

"to come in and take me away."

Very true.
You think he ever will?

Up till now, he hasn't.
Or rather he has... uh...

You know the man I'm talking,
of course.

It was only the second man,
and probably the only one,

and then husband.

Mr Onassis. And, you see...

You hope a lot...
Maybe it's my fault.

I put a man on a pedestal,
and I hoped a lot,

and I probably was disappointed.

And it probably was my fault.

Do you still hope? Hope in what?

Do you still hope
Prince Charming will come?

It won't be Prince Charming
at our age...

At my age,
I don't expect a Prince Charming,

but I expect a mature man
who will accept me as I am.

Would you give up singing, then?

Oh, naturally. You would?
Well, at this age, yes.

It has been said Maria Callas gave
up singing for Aristotle Onassis.

Uh... Well...

I could do that
without answering that,

but I think it's an honest question.

I thought that
when I met a man I loved,

that I didn't need to sing,

because I think that a woman,

the most important thing in a woman

is to have a man of her own
and to make him happy.

And I have integrity,

which is a very expensive...

Using Onassis' word,
it's a very expensive price to pay

for integrity and honesty.

But I can pay that price.

APPLAUSE

CHEERING

CROWD CHANTING:
Maria! Maria! Maria! Maria! Maria!

CHEERING

APPLAUSE DIES DOWN

AUDIENCE MEMBER SHOUTS

APPLAUSE STARTS AGAIN

I must say, this evening, there was
a little more emotion than usual,

because when a public
loves me that much,

I have to give that much more.

And there's no end to it!

APPLAUSE

So I'll try a little more, and
I'll do the usual song, which I...

O mio babbino caro,
o my public caro.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

MUSIC: Addio Del Passato
from La Traviata by Verdi

INAUDIBLE

It's really very, very rewarding.

They were probably applauding
what they were hoping to hear.

I don't know if they were really...
if I deserved all that,

but you can never fight the public,
so they seem very happy,

but I must say also, they were
very grateful, as I was also,

that I was able to come back.

You can't just applaud the legend if
you don't give them something to...

And after all, what is the legend?
The public made me.

What is a legend? I think
I'm a very human human being.

If I wasn't human,
I probably would have sung better.

I had a touch of nerves
in the beginning, and...

You see, when a public loves you so
much, you want to do so much more.

And what I want more
is never what I would like to,

not even in the good old days.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

MUSIC CONTINUES

INAUDIBLE

ACTRESS AS MARIA CALLAS:
When I saw Aristo for the last time,

he was calm,
and I think at peace with himself.

He was very ill, and he knew
that the end was near,

though he tried to ignore it.

We did not speak about old times,
or much about anything else.

We mostly communicated
with each other in silence.

As I was about to leave, he made
a special effort to tell me...

.."I loved you. Not always well,
but as much and the best I could.

"I tried."

I have written my memoirs.

They are in the music I interpret.

The only language I really know.

MUSIC: La Mamma Morta
from Andrea Chenier by Giordano

# La mamma morta m'hanno

# Alla porta della stanza mia

# Moriva e mi salvava

# Poi a notte alta

# Io con Bersi errava

# Quando ad un tratto

# Un livido bagliore guizza

# E rischiara innanzi a' passi miei

# La cupa via

# Guardo

# Bruciava il loco di mia culla

# Cosi fui sola

# E intorno il nulla

# Fame e miseria

# Il bisogno, il perglio

# Caddi malata

# E Bersi, buona e pura

# Di sua bellezza
ha fatto un mercato

# Un contratto per me

# Porto sventura a chi bene mi vuole

# Fu in quel dolore

# Che a me venne l'amor

# Voce piena d'armonia e dice:

# Tutto intorno e sangue e fango

# Io son divino

# Io son l'oblio

# Io sono il dio che sovra il mondo

# Scendo da l'empireo,
fa della terra

# Un ciel! Ah!

# Io son l'amore... #

MARIA CALLAS, SPEAKING FRENCH:

MUSIC: O Mio Babbino Caro
from Gianni Schicchi by Puccini

# O mio babbino caro

# Mi piace e bello, bello

# Vo' andare in Porta Rossa

# A comperar l'anello

# Si, si, ci voglio andare

# E se l'amassi indarno

# Andrei sul Ponte Vecchio

# Ma per buttarmi in Arno

# Mi struggo e mi tormento

# O Dio, vorrei morir

# Babbo, pieta, pieta

# Babbo, pieta

# Pieta. #