The year is 1977, and we find opera legend Maria Callas (Fanny Ardant) in virtual reclusion, haunted by the ghosts of her career. Longtime friend and music promoter Larry Kelly (Jeremy Irons) is in town -Paris- promoting a punk rock band, and decides to call on Callas. She, however, will not see him due to a disastrous Japanese tour set up for her by Kelly, and on which Callas was very disappointed with her performances. But after some rather aggressive persuasion, he gets in to see her. After chatting a bit, Kelly reveals his primary purpose for the visit: a new project for the aging diva. He proposes that she appear in a series of film versions of her greatest opera roles, but her voice would be dubbed from her best previous recordings. Initially resistant, citing her inability to bring anything new and fresh to roles she has played hundreds of times, she finally consents to doing a film version of Bizet's Carmen, as she has never performed that role live on stage, only in recordings. Carmen goes into production, and with the help of Kelly, another longtime friend and journalist Sarah Keller (Joan Plowright), her director and costars, Callas rediscovers the thrill of artistic creation that she thought she had lost, and the love and adoration that millions of fans still have for the diva and her iconic voice.
What is Larry Kelly doing in Paris?
promoting a punk rock band