Maestro

MAESTRO
2023 | Dir. Bradley Cooper | 129 Minutes

"It's so fucking draining to love and accept someone who doesn't love and accept themselves, and that's the only truth I know about you."


Conductor Leonard Bernstein and actress Felicia Montealegre meet at a party and quickly fall in love. As the years pass following their marriage, Leonard and Felicia's relationship becomes increasingly strained due to Leonard's success constantly placing the family in the public eye and his habitual indulgences in extramarital affairs with men.

Bradley Cooper's second feature in the director's chair, Maestro is more the story of a complicated marriage than a standard biopic. A stylish film, the feature sincerely explores the challenges behind some of the most loving romantic relationships. The narrative is only underscored by the musical achievements and occurring throughout Bernstein's career instead of directly focusing on them, placing much more emphasis on the emotional highs and lows of his private life. Most of the picture is seen through the perspective of Bernstein's loving but frustrated wife Felicia, sidestepping the often artificially aggrandizing nature of movies about real life artists.

Maestro is an aesthetically appealing picture. Shifting from one style of filmmaking to another throughout the course of its runtime, the black and white photography gives way to Technicolor and the boxy Academy ratio eventually changes to widescreen. It is an inspired way to present the passage of decades. The film's musical score is made up of Leonard Bernstein's works, perfectly demonstrating the timeless quality of his acclaimed musical works.

Bradley Cooper is impressive as the celebrated conductor-composer, fully committed to the part, even genuinely learning how to conduct an orchestra to convincingly perform a key scene. Although as good as Cooper is in the lead role, the old age makeup is a bit distracting as the picture covers Bernstein's later years, decidedly more exaggerated than the way he mimics the way Bernstein spoke. Giving a nuanced and heartbreaking performance as Felicia, Carey Mulligan is mesmerizing. Mulligan believably embodies a woman whose patience is regularly put to the test by disagreeable actions taken by the man she loves unconditionally, sometimes communicating all of this with just a subtle look.

Maestro is a sweet film about an imperfect relationship. The picture takes a refreshing approach to telling the story of a public figure on film, providing ample emotional insight into the person behind the public image that goes well beyond the standard biographical narrative. Confident aesthetic flourishes and a pair of memorable performances delivered by its leading stars further enhance the feature.


FRAGMENTS
- Miriam Shor also appears in 2024 Best Picture Academy Award Nominee American Fiction

- Martin Scorsese was initially attached to direct Maestro but left the project to make The Irishman, while Steven Spielberg who was approached to direct the film after Scorsese's exit encouraged Bradley Cooper to helm the picture upon seeing an early screening of Cooper's A Star is Born

- It's rather controversial for Bradley Cooper, a Catholic man, to wear a prosthetic nose and play a Jewish man

- Who abandoned Snoopy in the vestibule?


MCU CONNECTIONS

- Miriam Shor (Recorder Vim in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3)
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