Original subtitles

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

MUSIC: Elegie by Francois Virot

MUSIC: Zorba's Dance by Mikis Theodorakis

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

MUSIC: Preludio from I Lombardi by Verdi

Aargh!

Maria! Maria!

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.

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

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!

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

O mio babbino caro, o my public caro.

MUSIC: Addio Del Passato from La Traviata by Verdi

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

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...

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.