Diva time: Angelina Jolie as Maria Callas in ‘Maria’.

MARIA **1/2 (123 minutes) M
An obviously dedicated Angelina Jolie slips into the troubled persona of legendary opera diva Maria Callas in a regrettably mediocre biopic that strains to match the commitment of her central performance.

The film’s focus is on the final week of Callas’ life before her devoted house servants found her expired in her luxury Parisian home in 1977, loveless and alone.

Stylish to a fault, the latest movie version of Callas is presented as a largely tragic figure, her out-sized ego laced with self-doubts about her celebrity – she sits at cafes waiting to be adored – and whether she still has talent as a singer.

The film is festooned with flashbacks as Callas wrestles with performance fears and reflects on her chequered life, including her relationship with tycoon Aristotle Onassis before he moved on to Jackie Kennedy.

Jolie does a fine job showing what a sad and sorry wreck Callas had become at the end of her stellar life and sporadically brings her to life.

Regrettably, the movie is diminished by a fractured structure and a stilted pace; the use of an imaginary film crew to show how mentally derailed Callas had become simply doesn’t work.

Maria is touted as the third in an informal trilogy from director Pablo Larrain about notable women; first came the passable Jackie (2016), then the forgettable Spencer (2021). However noble the intent, the project doesn’t seem to have amounted to much.

All up, Maria ranks squarely as a nice try. And as politically unsound as it is to declare, there are worse things in the world than spending two hours in the presence of one of the most beautiful actresses working today.

Whoa! Are you allowed to say that?

Probably not.

BABYGIRL *1/2 (114 minutes) MA
In this searing erotic thriller Nicole Kidman plays Romy, a high-powered CEO who risks career, family and dignity for the sake of a steamy affair with a young intern and, ladies and gentlemen, you can bet the farm that the film is so self-consciously transgressive and confronting and controversial and depraved that you might well find yourself struggling to stay awake.

We all love naughty films about nookie yet the desperately sordid tale served up here by writer/director Halina Reijn (who did a fine job with Bodies Bodies Bodies) is hobbled by cringy dialogue, weak characterizations and a grand lack of motivation.

We know from the get-go that Romy is host to a volcanic sexual appetite though why it suddenly overwhelms her rational mind is never really explained or even teased.

This keeps you wondering as to why this grown woman is behaving so stupidly, a slave to the whim of her impulses. It’s especially gnawing that she doesn’t seem to be getting much pleasure out of her illicit liaisons. Isn’t sex supposed to be fun?

It doesn’t help that the performance by Harris Dickinson as her young beau is somewhat less-than-compelling – he seems rather unexcited about having all this power over the boss – or that the attempt to weave office politics into the shenanigans falls flat.

There’s also an issue with all the stuff about subs and doms being a little old hat, thanks to the 50 Shades movies. There’s nothing new or particularly titillating presented here. Perhaps this film should have been called 50 Shades of Nicole.

And we’ve been here. Ironically, the theme of a woman giving up everything to pursue a sexual impulse was handled cogently and with great impact by Kidman herself in her remarkable Eyes Wide Shut monologue.

All said, Nicole Kidman deserves kudos for continuing to take chances, throwing herself into the role here. If only the film surrounding her matched her efforts.

To be fair, the film might prove a diverting time killer for those eager for something naughty with a few aimless thrills.

However, anyone hoping for something vaguely offensive or transgressive or debauched, will likely be sorely disappointed.

For all its pretensions to being sinful, deviant and dangerous, Babygirl plays it safe, the 21st-century version of good old slap and tickle that spends much of its time firing blanks.

10 LIVES **1/2 (88 minutes) G
In this likeable, if unexceptional, British/French animated feature a rescue kitten grows to be a happy fat cat called Beckett, thanks to Rose, a sweet-natured science student and bee lover whose research is of great interest to her agenda-driven academic supervisor (voiced by Bill Nighy). The chief gimmick here is how Beckett keeps dying and coming back as different critters (bugs, fish, horses). It’s cute, sure, though one would have thought all that death and resurrection might not have been suitable for a kids’ movie. The film is perhaps a little too plot-heavy so there’s a lot to keep track of, including two comical henchmen and a swarm of drone bees. While the standard of animation isn’t up to Hollywood standard, it’s rendered well enough. A passable film for kids that will lose nothing in the stream.