FILM
MAESTRO
EDITED BY JOHN NUGENT
Writer-director-star-chief-tea-maker Bradley Cooper as the legendary Leonard Bernstein.
23 NOVEMBER - 20 DECEMBER 2023
A moment of marital tenderness;
Carey Mulligan shines as Felicia Montealegre;
The happy couple — for now.
WATCH FIRST
It’s worth getting familiar with Leonard Bernstein’s film work, especially musicals On The Town (1949) and West Side Story (1961 and 2021), both of which are referenced in Maestro.
BRADLEY COOPER CONDUCTS HIMSELF INTO THE OSCAR RACE
★★★★
OUT 24 NOVEMBER (CINEMAS) / 20 DECEMBER (NETFLIX) / CERT TBC / 129 MINS
DIRECTOR Bradley Cooper
CAST Carey Mulligan, Bradley Cooper, Matt Bomer, Maya Hawke, Sarah Silverman
PLOT The life of composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein (Cooper) — from his marriage to Felicia Montealegre (Mulligan), to his voracious sexuality and his passion for music.
LEONARD BERNSTEIN (PRONOUNCED “stine”, not “steen”) has been going through something of a purple patch on the big screen recently. The Lennaisance started with Steven Spielberg’s 2021 West Side Story, with music by Bernstein; continued with one Lydia Tár studying conducting under the master’s tutelage; and now reaches its zenith with Maestro, Bradley Cooper co-writing (with Josh Singer), directing and starring as Bernstein in a Spielberg/Scorsese-produced extravaganza. Even further from the shallows now, Cooper’s directorial follow-up to A Star Is Born is a much more ambitious affair, charting Bernstein’s complex relationship with the three pillars in his life: his wife Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan), his hedonistic bisexuality, and his obsession with music. On paper it’s a portrait of a troubled genius, but emerges even more effective as a portrait of a troubled genius’ spouse.