In Bradley Cooper’s Maestro, Felicia (Carey Mulligan) is the focus of an intricate marriage that complicates Leonard Bernstein’s life.
Leonard Bernstein was a person. The first truly great American pianist, conductor, and composer; best known for his West Side Story contributions. In addition, he was a loving spouse to Felicia Montealegre, the Chilean-Costa Rican actress and social activist who gained notoriety for her roles in Broadway and televised dramas. The new Netflix original film Maestro focuses on just one of these sides: a lighthearted but frequently restless desire to discover the reality of a tremendously gifted man at its core. (Also read: Julia Roberts and Mahershala Ali maintain their composure in the suspenseful post-apocalyptic thriller, Leave the World Behind.)
Which is exactly what it does—Maestro opens with an aging Bernstein reflecting on his life and the time he spent with Felicia. Bradley Cooper—who also plays the conductor in the film—directs, produces, and co-writes it with Josh Singer. Despite occasional moments of artistic genius, Maestro’s presentation of the subject—which primarily consists of dramatic revelations—is terribly flat and lifeless. I longed for the movie to transcend its pretentious and starry-eyed approach to the subject, leading the audience to examine Leonard and Felicia’s complex marriage—but to no avail.
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Carey Mulligan is at an all-time high.
Carey Mulligan’s portrayal of Felicia is the only wave of life that has blood coursing through its veins. As the woman whose performance in the marriage to Leonard becomes the foundation for every other performance she will ever give on stage or screen, she is simply amazing. Mulligan brings warmth, passion, and a much-needed sense of urgency to a picture that rightfully ought to give the subject more weight than the director. The pinnacle of Maestro is undoubtedly a particularly dramatic scene in which Mulligan’s Felicia ultimately chooses to show the man the mirror, unleashing a worm of a scene that will silence him for the first time in years. “What you’re saying is a f*cking lie. Every room loses energy because of it, she growls.
