Bold Bernstein drama proves Bradley’s a real virtuoso: BRIAN VINER reviews Maestro

By James On Sep 3, 2023

Can a nose on a face, no matter how big, ever merit the “elephant in the room” metaphor?

That was a pressing question Saturday night at the Venice Film Festival, at the world premiere of Maestro – the biopic of the powerful conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein, co-written, directed and starring Bradley Cooper.

There has been so much fuss about the prosthetics that (the non-Jewish) Cooper used to replicate the Bernstein trunk that even those in the audience determined to judge this Netflix film on its merits could hardly be unaware of the fuss, and they must have been. quickly came to their own conclusion.

Mine, for what it’s worth (and with a Jewish heritage of its own), is that the improved schnozzle is completely harmless. In some shots, it makes Cooper look surprisingly like Bernstein, which is never a bad thing in a biopic.

In addition, the great man’s own children have declared themselves happy with Cooper’s transformation.

Cooper’s virtuosic performance in this film, only the second he’s directed after 2018’s excellent A Star Is Born, is to convey the thunderous charisma that seemed to have everyone around Bernstein dancing to his tune. Bradley Cooper is pictured in April this year

That should be good enough for all of us, although the debate is sure to be reignited later this year when we see even more prosthetic work in another biographical film, Golda, in which (the gentile) Helen Mirren looks like the 1970s . Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir.

Noses aside, Maestro is a highly intelligent, hugely captivating drama that focuses on the complex relationship between Bernstein and his wife, the actress Felicia Montealegre (beautifully played by Carey Mulligan).

Many of its complexities stem from Bernstein’s bisexuality. When we first meet him in the 1940s, he has a male lover, but the courtship between him and Felicia is sincere.

There’s a brief hiatus when his sister (Sarah Silverman) finds out the pair are romantically entwined, but the film deliberately obscures the question of whether Felicia knows her husband-to-be is also sleeping with men, and when exactly she does. . finds out.

But by the time we jump forward to the 1960s and 1970s (from black and white to color), it has become a burning issue.

There’s a touching scene of Bernstein assuring their daughter Jamie that there’s no truth to the rumors she’s been hearing, and a furious husband-wife argument in their apartment that has a darkly hilarious counterpoint as a giant inflatable Snoopy crashes through the window. walks in. the Macy’s street parade.

Carey Mulligan plays Bernstein’s wife Felicia Montealegre in the Netflix biopic

All of this is so well written by Cooper and his co-writer Josh Singer (an Academy Award winner for 2015’s Spotlight), and so well acted by the two leads, there are times when it almost feels rude to watch. But their marital struggles are bolstered by mutual devotion and the best interests of both of their children, which becomes touchingly clear when Felicia is diagnosed with cancer.

It was bold of Cooper to allow Bernstein’s exciting musical talent to play second fiddle to this. But the film still chronicles his stellar career, beginning with his big break when he had to take over from New York Philharmonic guest conductor Bruno Walter, who had fallen ill at the age of 25.

We also learn something of the different directions in which he is pulled, between his genius for composing stage musicals (especially the incomparable West Side Story) and his equal ease with classical music. Not long before he died, I had the privilege of seeing Bernstein perform. It was an unforgettable spectacle to watch as an arthritic elderly man walked to the stage, slowly took over and lost decades. It was as if he was holding a wizard’s wand upside down, with all his magic animating him.

Maestro will be in cinemas in November and on Netflix on December 20.