I really wanted to see the film Maestro. It is about one of my favorite cultural icons, Leonard Bernstein, who I wrote about in 2018.
The movie was playing at the Spectrum Theatre in Albany. As it turned out, it was for only ONE WEEK before it landed on Netflix. My wife and I were going to go on Saturday, then Tuesday, but life got in the way. I saw it on Thursday’s last day in a theater (a/k/a yesterday).
Bradley Cooper recently earned two Golden Globe nominations for this film, one for Best Director – Motion Picture and a second for Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama. The biopic was also nominated for Best Motion Picture – Drama. Carey Mulligan earned a nomination for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama.
Yet, while I appreciated Cooper’s effort – as one of the two dozen patrons at my 3:30 showing noted, Cooper engaged in a labor of love – his Bernstein felt clinical, at arm’s length much of the time. As Maxwell Rabb of the Chicago Reader mused, “Cooper’s second film offers a discordant narrative—a blend of compelling moments with flat notes.”
Hannah Brown from the Jerusalem Post noted, “The script” – by Cooper and Josh Singer – “isn’t bad so much as wrong… barely giving a sense of why Bernstein was such an iconic figure on the American cultural landscape, and focusing on some of the blandest and least interesting aspects of his life.”
THE highlight
Likely, the best thing in the movie is Lenny’s conducting the Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony at Ely Cathedral. Cooper spent a lot of time getting Bernstein’s joy just right. Indeed, I enjoyed the film more from that point forward.
Carey Mulligan was a revelation as Lenny’s wife, Felicia Montealegre Cohn. She was sometimes a muse, often a protector of their children, and she tolerated his infidelities but only to a point.
As this article noted, “Maestro jumps between different periods, using black and white and color to depict the contrasting dynamics of Bernstein and Felicia‘s relationship. The intentional use of different aspect ratios in the film symbolizes the differences in their relationship between the two periods.”
I didn’t love Maestro. Still, I’m interested in how others view it. It received an 80% positive score from the critics and 83% from the audience.
Berstein died days before my first official sermon. I had another sermon already written and had my new preacher’s robes to wear.
As a baby Unitarian minister , I needed to impress but also be up to date on human events. I decided to play some “West Side” instead of me preaching and did not wear the new robe. Unknown to me, my evaluator that day was one of Leonard’s family members. I passed that sermon test. All I knew in my gut was that the man’s artistic work had to be celebrated.
Yes, the film focused much more on Bernstein’s personal life than on his musical genius and cultural impact. I felt sad watching him cause self harm through incessant smoking and heavy drinking. Still, the marital relationship was intriguing. He and Felicia had a profoundly paradoxical situation. Acknowledging his non-binary sexuality would probably have brought his musical career to a screeching halt.
The depictions of Candide, On the Town, and West Side Story vignettes were frenetic. I thought at first it was representative of that whirlwind time of their lives. But it would have been more enlightening to capture the brilliance of his composing and conducting process. Still, I’m glad to have seen it. Many scenes were filmed at the family’s Fairfield CT home, as described in Architectural Digest.
https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/bradley-cooper-movie-maestro-leonard-bernsteins-real-home
And the film has made me more curious about Bernstein’s life and music 🎶
From what I know of Bernstein’s life, I wonder if it can be adequately captured in one film satisfactorily; I suspect that if Cooper made a film that delves deep into Bernstein’s musical life, it would be criticized for walking too softly around his personal life. Maybe a Bernstein project should have been a miniseries on Netflix? (I haven’t seen MAESTRO yet, but I intend to.)
Cecily – frenetic is correct. When I saw the CBS Sunday Morning piece, it was the kids at the house. So the look was correct. Lenny’s look was correct. And I’m glad to have seen it. But…
Kelly – you should see it soon.
Rus – I LOVE the story!