Angelina Jolie’s “first movie in three years” is Maria (2024), Pablo Larraín’s psychological drama about opera icon Maria Callas. It began streaming on Netflix in the United States on December 11, 2024. Jolie’s performance sparked strong early awards buzz and earned a Golden Globe nomination, but she was not nominated for the 2025 Oscar for Best Actress.
Angelina Jolie’s “first movie in three years” is Maria (2024), Pablo Larraín’s impressionistic drama about opera legend Maria Callas. The film began streaming on Netflix in the United States on December 11, 2024, after its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival. Jolie’s performance generated strong early awards attention and earned a Golden Globe nomination—but she was not nominated for the 2025 Academy Award for Best Actress.
What is Maria about?
Written by Steven Knight and directed by Larraín, Maria focuses on the final period of Callas’s life. After withdrawing to Paris following years of fame, scandal, romantic turmoil, and professional pressure, Callas is shown wrestling with her identity, memories, relationships, isolation, and artistic legacy.
This is not a conventional cradle-to-grave musical biography. Netflix describes the film as a “creative reimagining” of Callas’s final days, and the story is structured more like a psychological portrait than a complete account of the singer’s career. Viewers looking for a chronology of Callas’s childhood, rise to international fame, and entire opera career may find the film selective and stylized. Its central question is less “What happened next?” than “Who was Callas when the public persona could no longer protect her?”
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Maria is also the third entry in Larraín’s informal series of portraits of famous women living under intense public scrutiny, following Jackie and Spencer. That connection is thematic rather than a formally branded franchise: each film uses a celebrated historical woman to explore private distress behind a highly controlled public image.
Why the headline says Jolie returned after three years
The three-year figure refers to the gap between Eternals, released on November 5, 2021, and Maria’s U.S. Netflix release on December 11, 2024. It is best understood as promotional shorthand for Jolie’s return to a major live-action film acting role.
It is not literally true that Jolie made no film during the interval. She directed Without Blood, released in 2024. The distinction matters: Maria marked her return as the leading actor in a major feature, not a return to filmmaking of any kind after an absolute three-year absence.
Jolie’s performance and the Callas recordings
Jolie’s transformation into Callas was the main reason the film entered the awards conversation so quickly. At the Venice premiere on August 29, 2024, Maria reportedly received an approximately eight-minute standing ovation, while Jolie’s emotional response became part of the event’s coverage. Early reports from Variety and The Washington Post framed the reception as an immediate Oscar-season moment.
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Critical reaction to the movie as a whole was mixed, but Jolie’s work was consistently treated as one of its strongest elements. The Associated Press described her as graceful and sharp in the role, while Rotten Tomatoes’ critical-consensus summary highlighted the performance alongside the screenplay and cinematography. The Guardian also praised the way Jolie embodied Callas’s diva persona. Other critics found the film emotionally distant or overly stylized, so the accurate conclusion is that Jolie attracted substantial praise and early awards buzz—not that every reviewer agreed the film was a triumph.
The film’s vocal design is more complicated than a straightforward “Jolie sings all of Callas’s arias” claim. Netflix says the soundtrack uses restored archival Callas recordings from excerpts of nine operas, including Norma, Tosca, La Traviata, Gianni Schicchi, and La Wally. Jolie’s performance is blended with those historic recordings and the film’s sound design. In other words, the movie presents Jolie’s acting and Callas’s actual recorded voice together; it should not be described as a complete vocal performance supplied independently by Jolie.
The awards reality check
| Award | What happened |
|---|---|
| 2025 Golden Globes | Jolie was nominated for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama. |
| 2025 Golden Globes result | Maria received one nomination and zero wins, according to the official Golden Globes database. |
| 97th Academy Awards | Maria was nominated for Best Cinematography for Ed Lachman. |
| 2025 Oscar for Best Actress | Jolie was not nominated. The nominees were Mikey Madison, Cynthia Erivo, Karla Sofía Gascón, Demi Moore, and Fernanda Torres. |
| Best Cinematography result | The Brutalist won the category. |
That makes the original awards-buzz framing accurate as a description of the campaign and early reception, but misleading if read as a prediction of an eventual acting nomination. Jolie’s performance became a high-profile awards-season talking point and a Golden Globe nominee; it did not become a Best Actress Oscar nominee or winner.
The role had several qualities that tend to attract awards attention: a famous real-life subject, a substantial physical and psychological transformation, operatic performance material, a respected director, and a major Netflix campaign. Netflix’s own Tudum coverage called Jolie’s performance stunning and noted her Golden Globe nomination. Those factors explain the buzz even though the Oscar acting nomination did not materialize.
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When and where can you watch Maria?
Maria premiered at Venice on August 29, 2024 and became available on Netflix in the United States on December 11, 2024. Netflix lists it as a 2024, R-rated drama starring Angelina Jolie, Pierfrancesco Favino, and Alba Rohrwacher, and categorizes it as a music- and real-life-based drama.
Streaming catalogs vary by territory and can change, so the December 11 date should not be treated as a worldwide release date or a guarantee of current availability in every country. Check the Netflix listing for your location before planning a viewing.
Who is likely to enjoy it?
- Jolie fans: The film gives her a demanding, controlled lead role built around physical presence, voice, memory, and emotional restraint.
- Viewers who enjoy artistic biographical dramas: Like Jackie and Spencer, the film prioritizes mood and interior experience over a complete historical timeline.
- Opera listeners: Callas’s archival recordings are central to the film’s musical identity, rather than merely background decoration.
- Audiences interested in celebrity and public image: The story examines the cost of becoming an icon and the loneliness that can follow a life lived under constant observation.
It may be a less natural fit for viewers who want a conventional, fact-by-fact account of Callas’s entire life or a concert film centered primarily on uninterrupted opera performances.
What to listen to after the film
Because music is so important to Maria, readers who want to revisit the recordings can look for the Maria 2024 soundtrack CD. Warner Classics released the original motion picture soundtrack on November 29, 2024 in CD and vinyl formats. The release combines film material, dialogue, and music connected to the Callas recordings used in the movie.
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That soundtrack is not identical to a general Maria Callas collection. Listeners who want the historical singer’s recordings outside the film can also explore Maria Callas recordings, including Warner Classics releases such as La Divina and individual opera recordings. Availability and retailer stock can vary, particularly for physical editions.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Books for more context about Callas
The movie concentrates on Callas’s final period, so a biography can provide the wider career context that the film intentionally leaves in the background. Arianna Huffington’s Maria Callas: The Woman Behind the Legend is available in trade paperback, while Anne Edwards’s Maria Callas: An Intimate Biography offers another biographical route into the singer’s life. These books are supplementary rather than necessary preparation: Maria is designed to work as a portrait of a specific late-life state, not as an illustrated summary of every major event in Callas’s biography.
Bottom line
Maria is Angelina Jolie’s major return to live-action film acting after Eternals, and her portrayal of Maria Callas deservedly became the center of the film’s awards campaign. The movie received a Golden Globe acting nomination for Jolie and an Oscar nomination for cinematography, but Jolie herself was not an Oscar nominee. Expect a stylized, inward-looking portrait of Callas’s last years, supported by Jolie’s acting and restored archival recordings of the real singer—not a definitive biography or a film in which Jolie supplies every operatic vocal.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Maria streaming on Netflix?
Maria is streaming on Netflix in the United States. It arrived on the U.S. service on December 11, 2024, although availability can vary by territory and change over time.
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- Compact without compromises: Our sleek design won’t block neighboring HDMI ports, and it even powers from your TV alone, plugging into the back and staying out of sight. No wall outlet, no extra cords, no clutter.
- No more juggling remotes: Power up your TV, adjust the volume, and control your Roku device with one remote. Use your voice to quickly search, play entertainment, and more.
- Shows on the go: Take your TV to-go when traveling—without needing to log into someone else’s device.
Did Angelina Jolie win an Oscar nomination for Maria?
Yes. Jolie received a 2025 Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama. She was not nominated for the 2025 Academy Award for Best Actress.
Does Angelina Jolie do all the singing in Maria?
No. The film uses restored Maria Callas recordings from excerpts of nine operas alongside Jolie’s acting and the film’s sound design. It should not be described as Jolie independently singing every Callas aria.
Is Maria a true story or a complete Maria Callas biography?
The film focuses on Callas’s final period in 1970s Paris and is a psychological, stylized reimagining rather than a complete biography of her life and career.
The Bottom Line
The short version: Maria is streaming on Netflix in the U.S. and showcases one of Angelina Jolie’s most acclaimed recent performances. The early awards buzz was real, and Jolie earned a Golden Globe nomination, but she did not receive a 2025 Oscar nomination for Best Actress. The film is a psychological reimagining of Maria Callas’s final days, with Jolie’s performance blended with restored Callas recordings.
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