What is Mandrax in Maria and is the journalist real?

Spoiler alert: The following article contains spoilers for Maria.

Angelina Jolie stars as Maria Callas, a famous 20th century opera singer, in Mariaand the film features something (and someone) called Mandrax, who plays a significant role in the story. Netflix's 2024 biographical psychological drama film, directed by Pablo Larraín and written by Steven Knight, follows Callas during the final days of his life. While Maria primarily chronicles Callas' time in Paris in the days leading up to her tragic death, but also delves deep into the artist's past and how she arrived at this point in her life in the City of Lights during the 1970s.

Callas had a somewhat troubled life for several reasons. She didn't have the most stable upbringing, as her parents divorced when she was young, which led to Callas moving with her mother and sister to Greece, where her family was from. After she became famous, the press was not very kind to Callas regarding her supposed bad temper. Callas's relationships were also far removed from fairytale romances, and she began to lose her voice in the mid-1950s.Callas withdrew from the public eye and lived out the rest of his days in Paris, where his health deteriorated rapidly, as illustrated in Mariais ending.

Mandrax is an addictive sedative hypnotic, originally prescribed as a muscle relaxant, sedative and sleep aid

Maria Callas plays Mandrax in the Netflix film

Maria Callas allegedly took several prescription (and non-prescription) pills throughout her life. As for Angelina Jolie's character in the 2024 drama film Maria, one of the drugs Callas takes is Mandrax, also known as methaqualone, which is called Quaalude in the United States. Mandrax is described as a sedative-hypnotic that was originally prescribed to patients to help them relax and sleep.

Callas takes Mandrax in the 2024 Netflix film to deal with his grief. Unfortunately, she abuses the drug, which causes Callas' butler, Ferruccio Mezzadri, to hide her pills in Maria. According to BBCMandrax was quite popular in the 1970s. However, the drug is highly addictive, dangerous if misused, and often used for nefarious purposes, which is why it is no longer manufactured properly, as Mandrax is illegal these days.

Did Maria Callas catch Mandrax in real life?

The opera singer reportedly had a drug problem

It's unclear whether Maria Callas caught Mandrax in real life, as some fonts conflict with each other. Put Decision makerThere is no official public record stating that Callas took Mandrax. She would be using cortisone and immunosuppressants to treat a degenerative disease, but apparently there is nothing to confirm that Mandrax was one of the drugs that Callas abused in the real story of her life. On the other hand, Maria writer Steven Knight said USA today that Callas often misused drugs, including Mandrax. Knight explained:

“Remember, this is the 50s and 60s when less was known about the consequences of this. [Callas] She had always had a problem with her weight, so she was prepared to take medication to deal with it… She started using medication like Mandrax to control the pain. Imagine being at the peak (of your career) and suddenly no one is listening?”

It's very possible that Mandrax was one of the drugs Callas took at the end of his life, as depicted in Angelina Jolie's new Netflix drama, which completes an eight-year film trilogy. After all, it was quite popular at the time. However, given the conflicting reports, it is difficult to say with certainty that Callas used Mandrax. Knight and director Pablo Larraín did a lot of research while developing Mariahowever. So, they must have chosen Mandrax as Callas' drug of choice in the 2024 biopic for a reason.

The journalist Mandrax is a hallucinatory personification of Maria Callas' use of the drug

Kodi Smit-McPhee plays Mandrax

Maria director Pablo Larraín pushes Mandrax front and center in the plot, both symbolically and physically. In the Golden Globe-nominated Angelina Jolie biopic, Kodi Smit-McPhee plays Mandrax, a documentary filmmaker who chooses Callas to be the subject of his next film. He follows her around Paris with a camera crew, asking the opera singer questions about her life. However, the man is not really there – he is simply a figment of Callas' imagination.

One of the side effects of Mandrax (the drug) is hallucinations, which is what Callas experiences on Netflix Maria. Callas hallucinates Mandrax (the documentary filmmaker), which is suggested when the film shows the perplexed reactions of Ferruccio and Bruna (his butler and maid) upon seeing Callas talking to Mandrax. Smit-McPhee Maria character is just a hallucinatory personification of the dangerous drug, which is why his name is Mandrax.

Sources: BBC, Decider, USA Today