The Well-Tempered Ear

Get a peek at “Maestro” — the upcoming biopic about Leonard Bernstein in love

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By Jacob Stockinger

It sure is shaping up as a year for movies about symphony orchestra conductors.

First there was the film “Tár” — now playing on Amazon Prime — about a woman composer-conductor, played by Cate Blanchett, that won a Golden Globe, BAFTA  and Critics Choice awards but has also been harshly questioned and criticized as unfactual, biased, unfair.

Also in the works is a much-anticipated documentary about conductor Marin Alsop — a student and protegee of Leonard Bernstein (below) who became the first globally know female conductor and is reportedly the inspiration for “Tár.” (John DeMain, the music director and conductor of the Madison Symphony Orchestra, also worked with Bernstein.)

And now there is the movie “Maestro” about the biggest conductor of them all, the larger-than-life Leonard Bernstein (below, in a photo by Jack Mitchell).

The official trailer-teaser for the movie has just been released. You can get a sneak peek at it in the YouTube video at the bottom.

The movie is a biopic of the famously popular American conductor, composer, pianist and educator and his wife, the Chilean-Costa Rican actress and social activist Felicia Montealegre (played by Carey Mulligan), shown with Lenny below in s photo from The Sun.

The clip is only about 1-½ minutes long. But even that is enough to prove telling in many ways.

Bernstein is played by actor Bradley Cooper, who also wrote and directed the film, which is being produced by cinema titan Martin Scorsese — a hard-to-beat pedigree when it comes to backers.

The Ear also finds that Cooper has an uncanny resemblance to Lenny not only in how he looks — even with the prosthetic nose that some criticize but Bernstein’s children defend. He also speaks like Lenny, laughs like Lenny, smokes like Lenny and conducts like Lenny, who was perhaps the most documented figures ever to exist in classical music.

And of course to express the romantic yearning and hints of tragedy the soundtrack relies heavily the famous Adagietto movement from Gustav Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, which was used decades ago for similar reasons in the movie version of Thomas Mann’s novella “Death in Venice.” 

No surprise there. Mahler and Bernstein fans know that the rediscovery of Mahler’s music in the mid-20th century was championed and led by Bernstein, who succeeded in making the neglected Mahler mainstream. So the music is more than appropriate in carping Bernstein’s passionate view of life and music.

One puzzling feature is that none of the preview materials The Ear has seen mentions Bernstein’s bisexuality. It led to many personal and professional conflicts and dramatic moments throughout their lives, and one must assume that it is not avoided in the movie.

Maybe they just don’t want too give away a major plot point.

But it makes The Ear wonder if the current cultural hostility to things LGBTQ+ is leading the moviemakers to back away from a reveal that comes too early and gives the hateful right-wing, fact-denying homophobes more time to martial their forces for a harmful boycott like they did with Bud Light beer and Target’s collection of Pride Month clothing. 

We will soon see as the unveiling schedule unfolds. 

On Sept. 2 “Maestro” makes its debut at the 80th Venice Film Festival, where critics, actors and industry people will get a first view.

The movie hits selected cinemas on Nov. 22.

Finally, it will premiere via streaming on Netflix on Dec. 22.

It should be fun — and perhaps alarming — to follow it as its audience grows.

Here is a link to the Wikipedia entry for the film. It includes background and the current controversy about the “Jewface” stereotypes created by Cooper using a prosthetic nose. It will be updated often, one expects.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maestro_(2023_film)

What do you think about Bernstein and the biopic from what you have seen and heard?

What do you think of the trailer-teaser?

Do you plan to see the film?

The Ear wants to hear