The life and marriage of renowned composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein is the subject of this stylised “biopic”, which has plenty working in its favour but leaves a feeling of an opportunity missed…

Screenwriters: Bradley Cooper and Josh Singer

Director: Bradley Cooper

Script source: Script Slug

Summary

When Leonard Bernstein (Bradley Cooper), the assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic, gets the opportunity to take centre stage, it launches a decades-long, high-profile career as a conductor, composer, pianist, and educator. Despite his attraction to men, he marries actress Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan), who remains by his side for over 25 years.

Review

The first thing to note is that Maestro is quite the achievement, which is largely down to Cooper’s commitment as director, co-writer and lead actor. However, the overall success of the film is mixed. On one hand, Maestro can be praised for its boldness and artistry. On the other hand, it can be faulted for moving so far away from the “biopic” mould that it leaves the viewer lacking a fulsome sense of what really drove Bernstein as a creative.

The film starts in 1943 with Bernstein’s big break and his early relationship with Felicia. It then moves us forward to the mid-1950s, with Bernstein now a widely acclaimed conductor and composer, married to Felicia and with two young children. It is the marriage of Bernstein and Felicia which is at the centre of the film.

The main problem with this aspect of the story is that when they meet and marry, Bernstein is, well, Bernstein: exuberant, dedicated to his career, the toast of the town, flirtatious, universally loved, and in a relationship with a man. These elements of his character are present throughout the film. Likewise, Felicia is an accomplished actor with her own career. The fact she comes to rue the compromise and sacrifice forced upon her by his self-centred brilliance and not so discreet dalliances drains some of the impact. We get a good idea of dalliances but had we seen more of the brilliance, it would have enhanced the “domestic” elements of the story, particularly in the later years when things come to a head and they separate.

While the soundtrack is fused with Bernstein’s music, too little emphasis is placed on how that work was created. Early scenes feature such key figures as Aaron Copeland, Jerome Robbins, Adolph Green and Betty Comden (and even a passing mention of a young “Stevie” Sondheim). However, they get pretty short shrift as the drama moves us on to Bernstein and Felicia. Throughout, Bernstein’s career is presented as an unmitigated success, with his frustration over what he sees as a creative life of too little accomplishment quickly glossed over in an interview.

One of the features of Maestro is that we are “told” a lot of things. Candide and West Side Story are casually dropped into the dialogue, while Bernstein’s resume is recounted by TV interviewers. In terms of his stage musical output, only On the Town gets any real attention but this quickly becomes a fantasy dance sequence involving Bernstein, Felicia and a trio of handsome sailors. There is more focus on his conducting, with scenes showing us his bombastic energy and intensity. It is in these scenes in which the real Bernstein emerges and we see what he means when he tells us how music runs in his veins.

As Bernstein says in an early scene with Felicia, like her, he is a person compiled from various “pieces” and this fragmentation is mirrored in the stylised direction, which works both for and against the film. Elements such as the switch from black & white to colour and the Thanksgiving Day parade scene, in which an absurdly large inflatable Snoopy intrudes on an emotionally wrought scene between Bernstein and Felicia elevate the film. However, some of the other “arty” aspects detract and distract from the drama.

Overall, while it is easy to appreciate the amount of work that went into bringing Maestro to the screen, the overriding feeling is that this was a slightly missed opportunity to explore its subject in real depth. Spending more screen time blending Bernstein’s creative struggles, his inner turmoil, his contradictions and his public face with the complications of his private life might have served to present the “pieces” of this uniquely gifted artist as a more dramatically compelling whole.

Go further

Take a look at the trailer:

Here is an interview with Bernstein himself: