Newswise — The new Netflix biopic, Maria, starring Angelina Jolie, offers a rare look into the life of opera superstar Maria Callas. The film is generating large viewership, as well as awards buzz. But according to prominent , the Netflix film misses an opportunity to illuminate some key aspects of Callas’s life, most notably her exploitation by her overbearing mother, as well as the singer’s profound lack of self-worth.

Wink is the author of , published in 2020 by Oxford University Press. A psychology and health sciences professor at Wellesley College—and a lifelong opera fan—Wink brings a unique perspective to viewing Maria, and can offer insight both into the psychological approach taken by the Netflix film and the facts of Callas's biography.

In particular, Wink says that Netflix’s portrayal of the last days of Callas’s life as a defiant struggle to create her own voice ignores the pertinent issue of the price paid by children whose parents push them toward lucrative careers. “The film also ignores the true tragedy of aging individuals who find it hard to develop a coherent life narrative,” he says, “one that enables graceful aging with the person accepting their past life without undue regret as the only one they could have lived.”

To talk with Wink, please contact Stacey Schmeidel, Wellesley’s director of media relations, at [email protected]. Wink, who is available over the holidays, is the Nellie Zuckerman Cohen & Anne Cohen Heller Professor in Health Sciences and Professor of Psychology at Wellesley College.