After last year’s film about Todd Fields fictional Conductor Lydia Tàr, the Venice Film Festival decided to offer the screen another one. This time not fictional though. A Conductor who was known to be a legend in his work. Now, Leonard Bernstein is a name most of you may have heard of. The brilliant conductor of iconic musicals like “West Side Story”. His music is known to be truly special, and he was certainly one of the best of his time. However, his life – as we learn in Bradley Coopers “Maestro” (2023) – would also be troublesome in many ways.
We begin with following Bernstein (played by Bradley Cooper himself) in his thirties. Recalling his early memories of meeting his wife Felicia (Carey Mulligan) and towards their ups and downs in marriage, while both tried to balance their thriving careers.
Going into the movie, I knew absolutely nothing about Leonard Bernstein. I knew he wrote West Side Story; his name was certainly one I have heard, but never have I paid much attention to his life before.
Bradley Coopers film truly made me care so deeply about a family I have just met. Turns out Bernstein was known to be a person who simply had, as the film keeps on repeating, a lot of love to give. Therefore, despite loving his wife, he didn’t hesitate to see other people – especially men who fascinate him as human beings – in romantic ways.
It is very difficult to produce a biopic without idolizing a person too much or turning the narrative against the subject. Cooper manages to look at Bernstein’s ups and downs in a very caring way.
Here the audience is never really told what year it is, Cooper tries to make that clear by using specific stylistics such as changing film rations or colors.
The acting is incredible. Especially Carey Mulligan who is just as important to this film as Cooper. She manages to carry the entire second half of the film. They both share a gorgeous dynamic. Mulligan succeeded in making everyone around me grab a tissue at some point. Truly capturing the frustration, anger, hope and love Felicity had felt as well.
While Cooper’s performance as Bernstein was also worth noting and incredibly impressive, the dialect he used could throw one out of the film at times.
Nevertheless, this film proved that Cooper is an exceptional filmmaker. Although it tries to thematize a lot of Bernstein’s life events at once and therefore may lack in pace at times. It is yet a gorgeous film that is worth to be seen and one who was certainly made with the heart at its right place, caring deeply about the Bernstein family.