50
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.
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What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
70
Ardant gives in this film the performance of her life, lip-synching to the voice of the real Callas.
50
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.
50
New York Daily News by Jami 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.
80
Los Angeles Times by Kevin 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.
40
TV Guide Magazine by Maitland McDonagh
Poky, oddly uninvolving.
40
The New York Times by Stephen Holden
A lip-synching hall of mirrors, it is essentially a piece of highbrow karaoke.
60
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.
50
Campy and clichéd.