"Maestro" Leonard Bernstein Biopic on NetFlix
Discussion
Went to see a showing of this thought provoking film with my Wife and Brother and sister in Law last week, they're all professional classical musicians and Scott my brother in law has played for Bernstein during his tenure as the assistant principle Bass player in The Cleveland Orchestra we thoroughly enjoyed the film, here's my wife Karen's take.
Much respect for Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan who gave a convincing performance of Lenny and Felicia in this thought-provoking film.
Cooper's enthusiasm, energy, and passion for the subject come across convincingly as Lenny's own enthusiasm, passion, and frenetic energy.
His physical resemblance to the legendary conductor was uncanny, made more so by the carefully chosen prosthetic nose about which so much was written--did those protestors even know what Lenny looked like, I have to ask?--and his portrayal of Lenny's larger than life ego, talent, and charisma were spot on.
The film is poignant and its real theme is love, the dilemmas love can create, and the pain of loving, Lenny's love for Felisha (Carey Mulligan) and hers for him, Lenny's love for his family and theirs for him, and the pain of forbidden loving and the tensions and dilemmas that result.
This was a man whose zest for life and passion and love inform his talent, drive his accomplishments, but entangle him in relationship after relationship in which he cannot fully immerse himself, just as he cannot fully immerse himself as a composer, a conductor, a pianist, AND an educator despite his enormous appetite, energy, and zest for living--as he himself says in the script--he's driven to becoming schizophrenic (presumably by both his loves and his music.)
This is as much the story of Felisha as it is Lenny's, though. And it is heartbreaking to watch an immensely talented and accomplished woman become eclipsed within the orbit of the personality, cult of admirers, Lenny's ambitions and achievements of her larger than life husband, and that moment of truth when she admits (to herself as much as to anyone) that she had thought she didn't have needs, and then discovered that she does.
We have a rare glimpse of her own forceful energy, vision, determination, and talent as she reads Dame Edith Sitwell's DaDaist rhymes underscored by Walton's whimsical music for Facade, and begin to appreciate that she is more than a pretty face that adores Lenny, but an artistic force to be reckoned with in her own right.
Cooper's musical performances are well-done (normally I dread films and shows about musicians, their attempts to mimic our profession are usually cringe-worthy) as a pianist, teacher, and conductor.
In the latter capacity, however, quite apart from his intensity and gestures writ large (especially in the Mahler 2 sequence at Ely Cathedral) there were places I thought he OVER conducted: those signature Lennyisms of conducting with an eyebrow or a nod, or the "Bernstein shrug" were nowhere in evidence and the Mahler seemed to me that he hadn't quite paced his gestures to match the pacing of that drawn out grand climactic resolution--few composers or conductors can equal Mahler or Lenny himself in bringing that off, frankly, so, for all his excellent conducting work--and it was--he wasn't QUITE Lenny. No one is.
The only other thing was Lenny's distinctive voice. His was a deeper baritone than Cooper's, inflected with the tones of his Harvard and Fountainebleau experiences that are so distinctive in his Norton lectures and young people's concert talks. His mannerisms in those talks are as much an element of the academic elite of the period as narrow ties, starched white shirts, and dark suits.
Nevertheless, this is a superb movie, very worthy of the accolades it has been receiving, and I will enjoy viewing it again.
There is no comparison with the fictional Tar. The title character of that film was as icy and distant as Bernstein was warm and exuberant, where Tar falls apart at the end and becomes a confused muddle, Bernstein's passion just burns brighter and hotter as he begins to accept both the loss of the woman who shared his life and who he is. The teaching moment at Tanglewood is well chosen--a classic conducting issue of how to follow the fermata--we see Cooper do one of those distinctive Bernsteinisms to which I alluded earlier--and it becomes plain that this is not premeditated and choreographed and practiced in front of a mirror for Lenny--he is a natural--like love he just feels it and acts on the impulse.
Similarly, he acts the impulse while dancing to Tears for Fears. And this is what makes loving Lenny both easy and painful, his impulsiveness when it comes to both his love life and his music. He seems to do whatever he feels in the moment without reflection or calculation. Tar's life falls apart when she attempts it because it's out of character and she's a phony. Like Bernstein she is faced with a choice to change her name...and does; whereas he refuses to be anything other than himself, with one notable exception: when he hides the truth from his daughter to spare her. It's not for him, not his shame or embarrassment he's doing it for, it's for her. "Rumours and jealousy" he says. But you can see that shielding her from the truth hurts him.
If you are, like me, a musician that has qualms about seeing another film about a musician, in this case, one that is so well known, and so idolized, and so beloved, rest assured you can watch this without the usual involuntary flinches and ticks, this is classy and well done, and a glimpse inside the personal life of a man we all think we knew.
If there were ever an effective warning about the dangers of smoking, though, this is especially cautionary. I felt as though I were enveloped in smoke, needed a shower and to wash my clothes, and drive to the nearest radiology department for a chest Xray immediately after leaving the theatre!
Bravi!
Much respect for Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan who gave a convincing performance of Lenny and Felicia in this thought-provoking film.
Cooper's enthusiasm, energy, and passion for the subject come across convincingly as Lenny's own enthusiasm, passion, and frenetic energy.
His physical resemblance to the legendary conductor was uncanny, made more so by the carefully chosen prosthetic nose about which so much was written--did those protestors even know what Lenny looked like, I have to ask?--and his portrayal of Lenny's larger than life ego, talent, and charisma were spot on.
The film is poignant and its real theme is love, the dilemmas love can create, and the pain of loving, Lenny's love for Felisha (Carey Mulligan) and hers for him, Lenny's love for his family and theirs for him, and the pain of forbidden loving and the tensions and dilemmas that result.
This was a man whose zest for life and passion and love inform his talent, drive his accomplishments, but entangle him in relationship after relationship in which he cannot fully immerse himself, just as he cannot fully immerse himself as a composer, a conductor, a pianist, AND an educator despite his enormous appetite, energy, and zest for living--as he himself says in the script--he's driven to becoming schizophrenic (presumably by both his loves and his music.)
This is as much the story of Felisha as it is Lenny's, though. And it is heartbreaking to watch an immensely talented and accomplished woman become eclipsed within the orbit of the personality, cult of admirers, Lenny's ambitions and achievements of her larger than life husband, and that moment of truth when she admits (to herself as much as to anyone) that she had thought she didn't have needs, and then discovered that she does.
We have a rare glimpse of her own forceful energy, vision, determination, and talent as she reads Dame Edith Sitwell's DaDaist rhymes underscored by Walton's whimsical music for Facade, and begin to appreciate that she is more than a pretty face that adores Lenny, but an artistic force to be reckoned with in her own right.
Cooper's musical performances are well-done (normally I dread films and shows about musicians, their attempts to mimic our profession are usually cringe-worthy) as a pianist, teacher, and conductor.
In the latter capacity, however, quite apart from his intensity and gestures writ large (especially in the Mahler 2 sequence at Ely Cathedral) there were places I thought he OVER conducted: those signature Lennyisms of conducting with an eyebrow or a nod, or the "Bernstein shrug" were nowhere in evidence and the Mahler seemed to me that he hadn't quite paced his gestures to match the pacing of that drawn out grand climactic resolution--few composers or conductors can equal Mahler or Lenny himself in bringing that off, frankly, so, for all his excellent conducting work--and it was--he wasn't QUITE Lenny. No one is.
The only other thing was Lenny's distinctive voice. His was a deeper baritone than Cooper's, inflected with the tones of his Harvard and Fountainebleau experiences that are so distinctive in his Norton lectures and young people's concert talks. His mannerisms in those talks are as much an element of the academic elite of the period as narrow ties, starched white shirts, and dark suits.
Nevertheless, this is a superb movie, very worthy of the accolades it has been receiving, and I will enjoy viewing it again.
There is no comparison with the fictional Tar. The title character of that film was as icy and distant as Bernstein was warm and exuberant, where Tar falls apart at the end and becomes a confused muddle, Bernstein's passion just burns brighter and hotter as he begins to accept both the loss of the woman who shared his life and who he is. The teaching moment at Tanglewood is well chosen--a classic conducting issue of how to follow the fermata--we see Cooper do one of those distinctive Bernsteinisms to which I alluded earlier--and it becomes plain that this is not premeditated and choreographed and practiced in front of a mirror for Lenny--he is a natural--like love he just feels it and acts on the impulse.
Similarly, he acts the impulse while dancing to Tears for Fears. And this is what makes loving Lenny both easy and painful, his impulsiveness when it comes to both his love life and his music. He seems to do whatever he feels in the moment without reflection or calculation. Tar's life falls apart when she attempts it because it's out of character and she's a phony. Like Bernstein she is faced with a choice to change her name...and does; whereas he refuses to be anything other than himself, with one notable exception: when he hides the truth from his daughter to spare her. It's not for him, not his shame or embarrassment he's doing it for, it's for her. "Rumours and jealousy" he says. But you can see that shielding her from the truth hurts him.
If you are, like me, a musician that has qualms about seeing another film about a musician, in this case, one that is so well known, and so idolized, and so beloved, rest assured you can watch this without the usual involuntary flinches and ticks, this is classy and well done, and a glimpse inside the personal life of a man we all think we knew.
If there were ever an effective warning about the dangers of smoking, though, this is especially cautionary. I felt as though I were enveloped in smoke, needed a shower and to wash my clothes, and drive to the nearest radiology department for a chest Xray immediately after leaving the theatre!
Bravi!
Edited by tdm34 on Thursday 21st December 16:17
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