Maestro (2023)

Bradley Cooper takes the to the director's chair for the second time with this biopic of American conductor Leonard Bernstein, which is driven by the relationship between himself and his wife Felicia. Cooper also stars, wonderfully so, as Bernstein himself with the help of some remarkable prosthetics that will surely garner the attention of the Academy come March.

Maestro makes no apology for being an Oscar baiting piece and with the Academy's recent mood softening towards films released by streaming platforms when it comes to awards, you'd imagine Cooper's film will be strewn across several categories. Whether he himself will be up for an acting or even directing award isn't clear, but there's no doubting that Carey Mulligan as Felicia should be; this might be her finest performance to date and that's saying something.

As Leonard's sister (a terrific Sarah Silverman) points out early on, you need to be aware of what might get thrown at you if you're within her brother's 'orbit', be it his addiction to his music, his various affairs (with both men and women) and everything else that comes with being married to someone so famous as well as potentially sacrificing your own career. Mulligan's towering display brings out a full range of emotions, frequently visible just below the surface of her face and we experience sheer joy and heartbreaking loss portrayed with vivid plausibility as the relationship takes its toll on her.

It's impossible not be glued to the other major player in Maestro, and that's the cigarette. Constantly on screen as Leonard chain smokes his way through his life, only without one when performing in front of full theaters or churches. Indeed Maestro's one truly astonishing sequence takes place inside the walls of a cathedral, where we witness the closing six minutes of Gustav Mahler's Resurrection Symphony as conducted by Bernstein; so astonishingly beautiful it left me near tears at its end, and if it was completed successfully in one take as Cooper claims, it's truly an awe inspiring achievement.

Nothing comes close to the heights of this small portion of Maestro, and its opening half is slightly muddled in its execution. As we witness the initial meeting of Leonard and Felicia, the film whips rather too swiftly through further meetings between the two, set alongside musical numbers that playfully infiltrate their dates yet sit rather lopsidedly amidst the rest of the film.

Whilst the opening half is arguably forgettable, Maestro really hits its stride around the halfway mark as the couple's marriage approaches breaking point. This ramps up and truly explodes in a row that is followed shortly after by the astonishing cathedral sequence, and from then on in we're party to some fairly predictable but nonetheless effective emotional upheaval that tugs at our heartstrings. That's not necessarily a criticism of the film or Cooper, he is after all telling a true story and the final third is what it is in terms of historical accuracy. Credit must be awarded for Cooper's direction as well, his debut in the chair was the excellent A Star Is Born in 2018, and while Maestro doesn't perhaps have the rawness of his debut feature, he aims high and certainly delivers some bold film making here, marking him out for potential future Oscar glory. Whether that comes with Maestro remains to be seen, but Bradley Cooper, having been made famous by The Hangover (2009), has left that scene well and truly in his rear-view mirror. 7.8/10