Matthew Turner | On 13, Sep 2023

Director: Bradley Cooper
Cast: Bradley Cooper, Carey Mulligan, Matt Bomer, Maya Hawke, Sarah Silverman, Sam Nivola, Alexa Swinton, Michael Urie, Gideon Glick, Miriam Shor
Certificate: TBC

Maestro premiered at the 2023 Venice Film Festival. It will be released in cinemas on 22nd November and stream on Netflix from 20th December.

Following his 2018 directorial debut A Star Is Born, Bradley Cooper directs, co-writes and stars in this unconventional biopic of composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein. Cooper could have played it safe with his sophomore feature, but instead he’s gone all out, utilising a number of ambitious directorial tricks and flourishes that lift this out of bog standard biopic territory, to frequently exhilarating effect.

Though the timeline is fractured, the film is essentially split into two halves, with Bernstein’s early life (from 1943 onwards) taking place in black-and-white and an old movie-style aspect ratio and his later life (from the 1960s onwards) in rich colour and standard widescreen. The film begins with a framing device, in which an ageing Bernstein (Cooper, sporting extremely impressive prosthetics) gives a TV interview from his luxurious New York apartment, in which he talks about how much he misses his wife.

The film then jumps back as the black-and-white sequences quickly fill in the gaps, beginning with Bernstein’s first thrilling experience with the New York Philharmonic – in the first of several bravura moves, Cooper films himself getting out of bed and running straight into the theatre, almost as if he was living upstairs. Shortly afterwards, he meets Chilean American actress Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan) and their courtship plays out like a 1940s screwball comedy, the rat-a-tat dialogue heightening their romance.

However, their subsequent relationship – which includes marriage and children – proves to be extremely complex, as Bernstein remains attracted to men throughout their time together and Felicia enters into their union with open eyes. In later years, their implicit arrangement begins to take its toll, and is further complicated when Felicia becomes seriously ill.

Arguably, the film is much less a traditional biopic than it is a moving portrait of a deeply complex relationship, with Felicia’s perspective often centred in the story. Indeed, one of the most heart-breaking scenes involves Mulligan and Sarah Silverman (as Bernstein’s sister, Shirley) simply sitting in a restaurant, with Felicia rationalising her maritial difficulties and admitting she knew what she was in for from day one.

On top of that, the film barely covers Bernstein’s biggest professional accomplishments – West Side Story merits a couple of lines, while On the Town is effectively echoed in another bravura sequence, as Bernstein writes Fancy Free (the 1944 ballet that would eventually become On the Town) in the bathroom with the door open and imagines himself first showing Felicia the dancing sailors and then becoming one of them himself.

Throughout the film, Cooper consistently finds ways to put a compelling or offbeat spin on standard biopic scenes, whether in the framing, the editing or the execution. One particular highlight involves a devastating argument – with Felicia really giving Bernstein both barrels – that has the blackly comic punctuation of a giant Snoopy floating past the window (part of New York’s annual Thanksgiving Parade, something that may be significantly less familiar and therefore that much more surreal to international audiences). However, Cooper’s boldest move is that he completely eschews the time-honoured “cough of death” scene, the traditional first indication of serious illness in a biopic or drama.

The performances are superb. There was some pre-release controversy surrounding Cooper’s prosthetic nose decision – Bernstein’s family gave Cooper’s portrayal of him their blessing – but any concerns immediately vanish, such is the power of Cooper’s compelling performance. Crucially, he’s not afraid to give full reign to Bernstein’s less than sympathetic side, frequently showing him as selfish, arrogant and self-absorbed.

Mulligan, in turn, delivers one of her best performances to date, sparking irresistible romantic chemistry with Cooper and then letting you feel every moment of heartbreak as their relationship gradually dissipates, despite the fact that they still love each other. There’s also strong support from Silverman, Matt Bomer (as the first of Bernstein’s male lovers, who also gets a quietly devastating early scene) and from Maya Hawke, who brings an adorable, gawky energy to her role as Bernstein and Felicia’s eldest daughter Jamie and steals every scene she’s in.

Ultimately, this is a powerful portrait of a fascinating relationship, with Cooper’s consistently inventive direction perfectly dove-tailing with his subject’s own creative genius. Expect Oscar nominations aplenty.

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