The life of Leonard Bernstein would be a daunting prospect for any filmmaker with the ambition to commit to screen. The larger-than-life American composer and conductor was a man with a deservedly renowned talent, who put his fame to good use through humanitarian work in between conducting great masterworks and composing his very own for orchestras, stage and screen. He lived large and loved many, and to condense all his life, his triumphs, his relationships and his complexities is no easy feat.
Martin Scorsese considered it, as did Steven Spielberg, but both ultimately passed, all the while staying on as producers for the final piece, which has come courtesy of director and star Bradley Cooper. The man who formerly crashed weddings and dealt with a mighty hangover has had something of a reawakening as a performer across the last 10-15 years of his career, becoming a more dramatically inclined actor, before then taking the leap into feature filmmaking with his 2018 version of A Star Is Born.
With an emotional drive and tactile style of filmmaking, Cooper seemed to emerge fully formed as a filmmaker with a keen grasp of the craft, as well as turning in one hell fo a performance in his directorial debut. What he would do next was an exciting prospect, and it became even more exciting when it took the reins of a project that had garnered the interest of two Hollywood greats, even before learning the subject would be one of the most influential figures in American music.
What’s even more startlingly are the final results. Cooper has not opted for the traditional checklist biopic approach with Maestro. His script – co-written with Spotlight and First Man scribe Josh Singer – instead explores the man and his fame through the figures in his list it most greatly affected: his family, and predominantly his wife Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan). It explores through many scenes that act as vignettes across over 20 years of marriage.
Bernstein across his life had affairs with both men and women, an arrangement that he and Felicia came to an understanding of, yet at their core, they would always return to each other. It’s a complex marriage, and it is this complexity that is of most interest to Cooper – two people who deeply love each other, but where one half cannot commit himself entirely to one person, and what the toll that is on Felicia navigating it all in the showbiz spotlight.
Related: A Star Is Born review
Moving from sweeping and romantic black-and-white cinematography to more grainy technicolour in the 60s and 70s, the film modulates the chapters of Bernstein and Felciia’s marriage with period-accurate cinematography, capturing both cherished moments and ones that they may come to regret. The vignette approach does mean that the pacing of events can feel a little serial and truncated – and the final third loses steam – but it creates a sense that we’re being invited into private, delicate moments in these scenes from a marriage.
It is not hard to understand why Mulligan has top billing here. She is surely on her way to another Oscar nomination at the very least with her flawless turn.
There is a lot of heart and soul on display both in Cooper and Singer’s eloquent dialogue, Cooper’s visually bold style and in the performances. It is not hard to understand why Mulligan has top billing here; the film is very much a two-hander but it is her who the audience is often guided towards as our way into Bernstein, with the actress surely landing her way to another Oscar nomination at the very least with her flawless turn. Cooper brings a lot of vigour to Lenny that pairs well with Mulligan’s calmer and more poised Felicia. The moments in which he conducts and creates are invigorating, thanks to both Cooper’s animated dedication and the beautifully shot and performed orchestral arrangements.
The music is, of course also key to the sweeping nature of Maesto, and both Bernstein’s original compositions and his arrangements of the likes of Mahler and Mozart. Symphonically as well as visually it is rapturous, making it easy to fall for, which goes a long way when the final third begins to play in a more sentimental and dour key.
Maestro is a highly successful sophomore directing effort from Cooper. A biopic that doesn’t play it by the book; this is suitably big, bold and messy, brimming with emotion and passion much like its central figure and relationship. It may not always be the smoothest ride, but when something is played with this much blood, it is hard not to fall into step with its rhythm and beats.
Maestro is in cinemas now and will be on Netflix from 20th December.
Maestro
Summary
A biopic that doesn’t play it by the book; this is suitably big, bold and messy, brimming with emotion and passion.
