Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larrain first gained recognition for his incisive exploration of his country's history and the repercussions of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship. In three recent films that have propelled him onto the international scene, he has reinvented the biographical narrative in a broken mirror's reflective and shattered form. Jackie (2017), Spencer (2021) and now Maria, dedicated respectively to Jackie Kennedy, Princess Diana and Maria Callas, dig into the tormented psyche of these exceptional figures through star actresses (Natalie Portman, Kristen Stewart, Angelina Jolie), who play the dread rather than a mimetic performance. Caught up in the media whirlwind of their time, these three women anticipate something of our present, each in their own way.

For me, the biopic is a cultural fantasy. I don't think you can sum up anyone's life in a film. I don't pretend to tell the viewer, "This is who that person was." So, I deliberately focus the story on a limited number of days each time to create a space for memories. This allows me to evoke these famous lives in a partial, fragmentary form, which suits me much better because for me it reflects human disorder.

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