Callas Forever
Regent Releasing | Release Date: November 5, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
49
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 20 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
12
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
The result is not only one of Zeffirelli's sumptuous productions but also a film that celebrates the sacredness of artistic integrity that to Zeffirelli Callas embodied fully. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
The movie is rich with music and more than a few moments of painful exaltation. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
Her (Ardant's) diva-in-decline is funny, lightly campy and dead-on in the way it encapsulates the sadness at the end of a selfish life lived only for art. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyChuck Wilson
Ardant gives in this film the performance of her life, lip-synching to the voice of the real Callas. Read full review
70
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
Ardant is marvelously genuine: fiery, petty, exalted. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The visual style is all Zeffirelli, and it is interesting that the opera-within-the-film is not skimped on, as is usually the case in films containing scenes from other productions. Read full review
60
Chicago ReaderTed Shen
Ardant embodies the diva's dazzling blend of glamour, hauteur, and vulnerability, and despite a faintly campy script by Martin Sherman, Zeffirelli captures the artistic imperative that drives both characters-and deepens their loneliness. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterJudith Prescott
What captures the audience's attention is Ardent's mesmerizing performance. Read full review
50
VarietyDeborah Young
Main body of the movie is weighed down by flat, expository dialogue and a lot of pedestrian filming. However, Zeffirelli's shooting of the "Carmen" sequences, which make up a sizable chunk of the film and are far and away the pic's most exhilarating sections, are graceful and fluid. Read full review
50
Village VoiceDavid Blaylock
Sadly, this camp drama, a eulogy by one of Callas's closest friends, pales in comparison to the four minutes of "La Mamma Morta" in Philadelphia. Read full review
50
New York PostV.A. Musetto
Campy and clichéd. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
This fictional "what if" scenario is a bit campy and stagey, like a session of Opera 101. But it has one great thing in its favor: Ardant. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldEnrique Fernandez
Melodramatic realism is the wrong genre to tell the tale of a figure whose life was already over-the-top melodramatic. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneJohn von Rhein
Sometimes it's best to let sleeping divas lie. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy Burr
In sum, a big, honking tutti-frutti sundae of a movie that nonetheless is shot through with authentic feeling. Read full review
40
The New York TimesStephen Holden
A lip-synching hall of mirrors, it is essentially a piece of highbrow karaoke. Read full review
40
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Poky, oddly uninvolving. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleSteve Davis
The film might have been redeemed by Ardant's performance as Callas. But for a rare glimpse of the diva's ferocious appetite for life, however, this French actress seems all wrong for the part. Read full review
30
Film ThreatPhil Hall
An Italian-British-French-Spanish-Romanian co-production. A better argument against multinational cooperation cannot be imagined. Read full review
30
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
A hysterically over-the-top backstage melodrama whose temperature seldom falls below overheated. Read full review
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