2023-12-05 20:44:00
printed edition
Maria Callas, “Medea”, Epidaurus, 1961 | Photo: Klisthenis, Archive of the National Opera
“Mary, Marianna, Maria – the unknown Greek years of Calla”
MUSIC – DANCE 05.12.23 20:44 Jasons Triantafyllidis
The documentary of the National Opera, signed by Vassilis Louras and Michalis Asthenidis, in addition to the perfect and flawless image, technique and research, is really uncomplicated in terms of the spirit that governs it, not afraid to say things that others out of respect they might not even dare to think.
It was a good year for the National Opera and one must admit precisely because it was the 100th anniversary of the birth of the mythical, legendary, inimitable, whatever adjectives one puts next to her name will be few because only the name to her it means all the possible cosmetic adjectives that can be put next to the name of such a great artist – an artist and not just a lyric singer.
The National Opera held many events, staged performances characterized by Callas’s performance, and even released wonderful high aesthetic and tasteful souvenirs and collectibles for her – from scarves for men and women and diaries to bags and candles – but I believe that the most important of what he did, the most difficult to achieve and achieved, the most useful for the memory of this woman in perpetuity, was a 150-minute documentary, which was presented on Saturday 2 December at 6.30 pm in the hall ” Stavros Niarchos” in a screening in the presence of the President of the Republic Mr. Sakellaropoulos and the Secretary General of Modern Culture Mr. Doundoulakis, entitled “Mary, Marianna, Maria – The Unknown Greek Years of Calla”.
And “Ef.Syn.” last week there was a tribute to this documentary film, I will not dwell on the details and information about this film signed by Vassilis Louras and Michalis Asthenidis, but I will stick to the essence which is the result. Here are the 10 most unknown years in the beginning of Callas from her 14 to 24 years in Athens. The creators preferred a classic way of film writing without exaggerations and so-called originals and so-called modernisms, since the subject was already as heavy as the elements they searched for and found that anything that could weigh it down would sink the result. Here and in the conception and the research and the writing the respect and admiration is visible.
Every new technical aid is used for a proper result, from anime where old shows and old theaters and moments from her young life are recreated in an amazing way to image processing or just speech to a huge number of people who remember something from meeting and working together with her and many of them have passed away. Rare photos or current events or visual documents of then or today properly edited and with a very correct photo direction, which gives elemental homogeneity to the whole film and to completely different things from damaged photos and publications to state-of-the-art color games. The film owes a lot to the editing of Asthenidis, which does not stress you out watching so many elements, on the contrary, it helps you not only to enjoy it, but to enjoy it.
Photo: Chris Giatrakos
The most important thing of course is that this documentary, apart from the image, the technique, the research which is perfect and flawless, is really uncomplicated in terms of the spirit that governs it, not afraid to say things that others may not out of respect. they even dared to think. Of course, I won’t write what they are, I think what I wrote is enough. It is the respect to the absolute legend, but it is also the respect to History. And the positives and the negatives and the truths and the lies and the myths and the reality can follow each other and result in a complete picture of these famous 10 years of Mary and Marianna until she becomes the legendary Mary and makes us not only to learn the facts, but also to feel how and why this seemingly caterpillar a few years later transformed into the most beautiful butterfly and flew to renew and change the lyric art and finally destroy itself through its relationship with Onassis, going from leading lyricist to leading female lyricist herself – really, who’s going to write an opera about her life?
I insist that this is the most important thing that happened in Greece for the memory of Callas because this will remain. It was difficult to make something of a truly international standard about a whole period of her life, because here we are competing with documentaries and documentaries that have been made about her life over the years and yet because I have watched them I can assure you that they are among the best , more fully, more seriously that have been filmed for her and precisely because it is a specific part of her life and career is unique in its kind. Otherwise it is equal to the best. Unfortunately there was only one screening on her birthday on December 2nd and on December 8th it will be played on French TV – I imagine everywhere else after that. I hope there will be other screenings in Greece, even in schools – why not?
#caterpillar #butterfly