14/12/23

Cameo Cinema, Edinburgh

Like several other recent films, Maestro has been bankrolled by Netflix and consequently ended up with a fleeting theatrical release before moving on to the streaming service. Much of the advance publicity has been caught up in the furore generated by writer/actor/director Bradley Cooper’s controversial decision to use a prosthetic nose in order to look more like his chosen subject, Leonard Bernstein, a complex issue I don’t feel qualified to wade into.

The film itself is undoubtedly accomplished and Cooper’s performance moves beyond impersonation, as he captures the composer’s restless nature, depicting him as a powerful, chain-smoking force of nature, a man constantly warring between his evident devotion to his wife, actor Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan), and the succession of male lovers that drift into his orbit. He’s also at war with himself, lamenting his inability to concentrate on the classics he loves because of his commitments to provide music for various film and broadway productions. (When these include the likes of West Side Story, it’s hard to commiserate with him.)

Set over decades, the two actors enact their roles with absolute authority, while cinematographer Matthew Libatique uncannily captures the different eras with a range of camera techniques and varying aspect ratios. The effect is that the images gradually grow in scale as the years unfold. An early monochrome sequence where the two young lovers watch of production of On The Town and end up dancing with the cast is a particular highlight.

This is perhaps a film to admire rather than enjoy, with the story so tightly focused on the central characters that supporting players are barely given the opportunity to make much of an impression. Sarah Silverman as Leonard’s snarky sister Shirley comes the closest, but she’s only occasionally onscreen. Lovers of classical music will doubtless respond favourably to the long intervals where Bernstein conducts massive orchestras and choirs in his distinctive animated style, while those who are oblivious to its charms may feel distanced and (dare I say it?) a little bored by the excesses. Happily for me, I belong to the former category.

Maestro is a handsome, brilliantly executed film, one that belies the fact that this is only Cooper’s second outing a director. (2018’s A Star is Born was his debut; thanks for asking.) Made with the full cooperation of the Bernstein family, this is something of a Marmite movie. Mulligan (who is top-billed) submits a powerful performance as a woman compelled to a lifetime of compromise and her later scenes, where she slowly succumbs to illness, are devastating.

Many will decide to wait a week or so to stream this at home but it does deserve to be seen on the biggest screen available and with a speaker system that can do justice to that magnificent score.

4 stars

Philip Caveney