Bradley Cooper's best decision in making Maestro, his second movie as a director, was to focus the story on the relationship between the legendary conductor Leonard Bernstein and his wife, Felicia Montealegre.
The second-best decision was to cast Carey Mulligan as Felicia.
Now available on Netflix, the movie is so determined to showcase every trick in the filmmaking book, so hungry to reach the kind of cinematic heights that would sweep the Oscars, that it desperately needs something (or someone) grounding it.
In Maestro there's visual wonder. In Mulligan's performance, there's life. By balancing both, there are glimpses of greatness.
Written by Cooper and Oscar winner Josh Singer (Spotlight), the movie spans most of Leonard Bernstein's life, jumping erratically between life-changing events and small moments of domestic bliss and turmoil.
It all starts when Lenny gets the fateful call that would change his career — as a 25-year-old assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic, he is asked to step in without rehearsing after the guest conductor for that night falls ill. There and then, a star is born.
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Later on, another monumental event hits him as he meets Felicia Montealegre, falling madly in love over the course of an evening.
As a director, Cooper shows everything with all the visual power he can summon, never settling for an aesthetic, colour or narrative style. It's fast, restless and overwhelming, as if every image wants to be oozing with creativity to emulate its subject's artistic genius.
After all, the movie starts with a revealing quote from Bernstein himself: "A work of art does not answer questions, it provokes them; and its essential meaning is in the tension between the contradictory answers."
Maestro aspires to be a representation of Bernstein's fervid psyche, which is equally awe-inspiring and exhausting.
However, between all the pretentiousness and cliché-driven intensity the movie often displays, something shifts every time Mulligan's earnest performance steals the show.
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If here Bernstein is a man burdened with the glorious purpose of becoming one of the most important musical figures of the 20th century, Felicia gets to be universal.
She gets to be real and relatable in a movie dominated by artistic wonder, both on and off screen.
Bernstein is portrayed as a complicated genius of infectious energy (although the movie never grasps the size of his contributions), while Cooper is desperately trying to prove himself as a ferocious filmmaker. Both of them are so devoted to their craft that they threaten to suck all the air out of the room.
When Mulligan shows up, we can breathe again. And sob too, for that matter, when she gives everything in her most moving scenes.
Thanks to the British actress, the movie finds its footing, its balance. As if the movie's team is perfectly aware of this, she is a central figure in the promotional posters, and she even gets first billing in the credits ahead of Cooper.
In an interview with GamesRadar, producer Kristie Macosko Krieger even said: "She knew how to be the rock at the centre of the movie – in some ways she's actually the maestro."
Putting Felicia at the heart of the story comes with its drawbacks however, since it falls short at bringing viewers closer to Bernstein's very human struggles.
While her journey from young woman in love to unhappy wife is beautifully carried through Mulligan's expressive eyes, Cooper's larger-than-life approach to Lenny leaves less room for understanding.
Still, it's only a good thing the movie doesn't conform with blindly exalting Bernstein, instead finding the thorns in an otherwise loving relationship. It also offers a few affecting moments that bring the great conductor back to Earth – scenes such as when Bernstein is forced to lie to his daughter about the rumours surrounding his sexuality spring to mind.
All in all, with all its pieces falling into place some way or another, Maestro is well worth a watch.
Maestro is now available to watch on Netflix.
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Mireia (she/her) has been working as a movie and TV journalist for over eight years. Based in the UK, she is a former deputy movies editor at Digital Spy, and previously worked for the Spanish magazine Fotogramas. Mireia's work has been published in other outlets such as Esquire and Elle in Spain, and WeLoveCinema and GamesRadar+ in the UK. She is also a published author, having written the essay Biblioteca Studio Ghibli: Nicky, la aprendiz de bruja about Hayao Miyazaki's Kiki's Delivery Service.
During her years as a freelance journalist and film critic, Mireia has covered festivals around the world and has interviewed high-profile talents such as Kristen Stewart, Ryan Gosling, Jake Gyllenhaal and many more. She's also taken part in juries such as the FIPRESCI jury at Venice Film Festival and the short film jury at Kingston International Film Festival in London. LinkedIn
