Yes, Maria is based on the true story of Greek opera singer Maria Callas, who died of a heart attack in 1977, when she was only 53 years old. Maria imagines the last few days of Callas’s life, in which once the once-great opera singer struggles with a drug addiction, hallucinations, and her declining health.

I didn’t need to see Maria, the movie starring Angelina Jolie about the last week of Maria Callas’s life to know that it would feature a woman disintegrating as she remembers past triumphs and disasters.

Angelina Jolie opens up about personal struggles, her comeback in ‘Maria,’ and reigniting her passion for storytelling.