To witness firsthand the career of the world's most leg­ endary opera diva sounds like a gay man's dream come true. But for Larry Kelly (a delectably quirky Jeremy Irons), managing Maria Callas's late career has left him scorched by the star's brilliant fire. The special relationship between Callas (a luminous Fanny Ardant, reprising her stage por­trayal) and her former manager forms the heart of this compelling fictional imagining of the diva's swan' song, written and directed by the late Callas's friend and col­ league, Franco Zeffirelli (Romeo & Juliet).

At the story's beginning, Kelly has become a manager of rock bands-much easier to handle, he asserts, than a temperamental opera star. Callas, following the deteriora­ tion of her voice, has become a recluse. Visiting her palatial Paris apartment, Kelly is shocked to find Maria so broken. Determined to re-ignite her passion and restore her legacy, he convinces her to take on an important project: a film of the opera Carmen, in which she will lip-sync her own, glorious recording of many years previous. Thus begins a reawakening of their former relationship, mixing creative passion, genius, and drive in an incendiary cocktail.

The stars are ably supported by a feisty Joan Plowright as their mutual friend, a busybody journalist, and by new­ comer Jay Rodan as Larry's handsome artist boyfriend. Zeffirelli's florid, operatic treatment of this engrossing "what if" story creates a superbly indulgent fantasy and a worthy tribute to his legendary friend.