(Credits: Netflix / Pablo Larraín)

If recent history is any indication, then Angelina Jolie is virtually guaranteed an Academy Award nomination after the premiere of biographical drama Maria led to an eight-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival, which is set to premiere on Netflix.

The star may have stepped back from the on-camera limelight in recent years, with the role of operatic icon Maria Callas the first time she’s appeared in a movie since the 2021 double whammy of Those Who Wish Me Dead and Eternals, and it’s also the first time Jolie has taken top billing in a drama since her own self-directed effort By the Sea in 2015.

Set during the final days of Callas’ life before she passed away in Paris at the age of only 53 in September 1977, the early buzz proclaimed that Maria featured Jolie’s best performance in years, and that seems to have been right on the money after the standing ovation brought her to tears.

While the reception to the film itself hasn’t been quite as enthusiastic across the board, there are two very good reasons why the Oscar winner stands a very good chance of being nominated for the first time since she made the ‘Best Actress’ shortlist in 2009 for Clint Eastwood’s period piece Changeling.

Maria marks the third time in eight years director Larrain has helmed a biographical drama with a one-word title, and exactly like Maria, Jackie and Spencer both premiered at Venice to rapturous applause. Not only that, but stars Natalie Portman and Kristen Stewart both earned ‘Best Actress’ nods at the Oscars.

With that in mind, it’s reasonable to assume that Jolie is destined to be in the thick of the awards season race, with the actor spending seven months preparing for the part. While she didn’t do all of the onscreen singing herself, the vocals heard in Maria are a combination of both Callas and Jolie, something the A-lister admitted made her feel more than a little trepidatious.

“Everybody here knows I was terribly nervous,” she admitted at the Maria press conference. “I spent almost seven months training because when you work with Pablo, you can’t do anything by half. He demands, in the most wonderful way, that you really do the work and you really learn and train.”

The tangible value of standing ovations at festivals remains open to interpretation, but when Larrain directs female-focused biopics with talented stars taking centre stage, then an Oscar nomination is basically a foregone conclusion at this stage.

While Netflix recently acquired Maria, the streaming service is yet to reveal when the movie will be released on the platform.