Angelina Jolie is tipped by fans to win her second Oscar as Maria receives an eight-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival - despite lacklustre reviews from critics

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Published on Wednesday, 30 November -0001 00:00

Written by Daily mail

         Angelina Jolie has been tipped to win her second Academy Award, after her biopic Maria received an eight-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival, despite lacklustre reviews from critics.The actress, 49, has taken on the role of revered opera singer Maria Callas in the film, and following its premiere, some fans were to quick to predict she'll be battling it out for Best Actress at next year's ceremony.Following its release, the drama, which concludes Pablo Larraín's trilogy of pictures about embattled women of wealth, was greeted with a rapturous reception and eight minutes of applause.It was a reception akin to that of Brendan Fraser's comeback performance in The Whale, which eventually won him the Oscar for Best Actor. Angelina was visibly emotional in the wake of the response, wiping away tears and turning her face away from the cheering.Following the premiere, several fans declared that it's kickstarted her campaign to win her second Academy Award in 2025, exactly 25 years after she was awarded the Supporting Actress prize for Girl, Interrupted.Posts on X included: 'Looks like its gonna be a cate blanchett vs angelina jolie best actress race in the oscars;'I'm so sorry for Amy Adams and Soairse Ronan, but Angelina Jolie will take the Oscar. Maybe this is still not the right time yet for both of them to win an Oscar;''The angelina jolie oscar campaign begins now.' Maria was hailed as the greatest voice in the history of opera, and the biopic depicts her during the final week of her life, before her death in 1977.She was not just known for her incredible voice, which helped make her one of the top opera singers of the 20th century, but also for her striking beauty which put a spotlight on her many romances. Maria battled ill health during her final years, and the film shines a light on her deteriorating mental state as she dreams of the prospect of performing once again, with her marriage to Ari Onassis at the forefront.Despite the film's positive reception, reviews have been more mixed, with many, including The Daily Mail's Brian Viner casting doubt over the film itself, while praising Angelina's performance.Branding her character a 'whining, self-pitying, endlessly needy victim,' he nonetheless noted: 'All that said, Jolie gives one of the performances of her career. 'This might be a flawed depiction of Callas but not by her; wearing enough mascara to sink one of Onassis's ships she is completely believable in the role and even does some of her own warbling alongside some top-class lip-synching to the real Callas, having reportedly trained for seven months until she was ready to perform in public for the first time. Admittedly I'm no expert but I couldn't tell the difference.'Kevin Maher from The Times agreed, awarding the film two stars, and writing: 'This is a film fed by, and consistently cutting to, the operas that defined its subject. Yet there is not a single moment that is emotionally operatic. It is wilfully, wearily flat.' Awarding the film three stars, BBC's Nicholas Barber said: 'The film is also too adoring and reverential to let us sympathise with its supposedly fragile heroine. 'Unusually for someone who is drug-addled and terminally ill, Jolie's Callas never looks anything less than magnificent, and she is always supremely dignified, poised and confident, out-quipping everyone who crosses her path.'The Telegraph's Robbie Collin gave the film four stars, writing: 'Jolie is given ample space to dazzle, but less to surprise.

source : Daily mail