To the generations of opera singers that came after her, she’s still an era-defining consummate artist. “She’s an icon. There’s no other way to put it,” said bass Morris Robinson, who recently sang the role of Ramfis in “Aida” with Boston Lyric Opera.

Where the opera star Maria Callas differs from Princess Diana or First Lady Jackie Kennedy in Larraín's conception is that she desperately wants to be on (or return to) the public stage; her most authentic self is only complete with a loving audience.

“Maria,” Pablo Larraín’s cinematic portrait of opera legend Maria Callas, arrives as the third of the director’s films centered on iconic women of the 20th century.