5 reasons Maestro is the must-see film of the season

From the performances and the music to the craft and cinematography, Bradley Cooper’s latest movie brings a compelling real story to life in thrilling detail

From the performances of its incredible leads to the cinematography and craft, Maestro is your new must-watch (Courtesy of Netflix)

He played a fictional rock star in his directorial debut A Star Is Born, but for his follow-up Bradley Cooper has turned his attention to a real-life musical genius, Leonard Bernstein. As one of the greatest classical musicians of the 20th century, Bernstein was a cultural superstar with a complex private life.

Maestro, which Cooper co-writes, directs and stars in, explores the man behind the music through the lens of Bernstein’s marriage. It’s a celebration of talent and an ode to the power of art but primarily a story about love and family: an epic tale told through incredibly intimate moments. Here are five reasons you shouldn’t miss it…

A compelling true-life story

Maestro centres around the complicated relationship between Leonard Bernstein and wife Felicia (Jason McDonald/Netflix)

Maestro tells the story of the legendary conductor, composer and musician Leonard Bernstein, starting from the moment he got his big break when he was asked to fill in at the last minute as conductor of the New York Philharmonic orchestra. More specifically, the film focuses on his relationship with his wife, the actress Felicia Montealegre, played in the film by Carey Mulligan, and the immense impact they had on each other.

“I wanted to dedicate the real estate of the film to them,” Cooper has said. The two met at a party in 1946, married in 1951 and had three children together. They were seen as one of the power couples of their day, and Bernstein was by his wife’s side when she died in 1978 – but the two had an extremely complicated marriage, with Felicia aware that her husband was pursuing affairs with men. The lifespan of their romance is covered in the film, from their undeniable instant connection, through infidelities, estrangement, illness and reconciliations.

The performances

Award-winning actors Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan threw themselves into their roles (Jason McDonald/Netflix)

At the centre of Maestro are two powerhouse performances from Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan.

Cooper has long had a fascination with conducting, asking for a baton as a child and pretending to conduct an imaginary orchestra, soundtracked by the family stereo. But there is no make-believe in Maestro. In preparation, Cooper spent years immersing himself in the classical world. He spent hundreds of hours with the New York Philharmonic, attending rehearsals and concerts, and had guidance from real-life conductors including Gustavo Dudamel of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, music director of the Metropolitan Opera of New York, among others, who also served as the film’s conducting consultant. Cooper also watched hours of archival footage to learn Bernstein’s gestures and accent. The result is a performance that captures not only Bernstein’s talent and incredible charisma but the melancholy that lay beneath it.

Mulligan’s performance has been called the best of her career, and she says she’s never thrown herself into a role as deeply as this one. To prepare, the BAFTA-winning and twice Oscar-nominated actress studied interview tapes and home videos to master Felecia’s specific dialect and spent time with Montealegre’s family in Chile. As Felicia, Mulligan is the heart of the movie and, arguably, the real maestro in Bernstein’s life.

The cinematography

Cooper reunited with renowned cinematographer Matthew Libatique on the film (Jason McDonald/Netflix)

He may only be two films into his directorial career, but Bradley Cooper has already proven himself to be a hugely ambitious filmmaker. Maestro is a bold film, spanning several decades and incorporating different styles to create a captivating visual experience. To execute his vision, Cooper reunited with BAFTA and Oscar nominated cinematographer Matthew Libatique, who he worked with on A Star Is Born. Beginning in black and white during the 1940s, it later shifts to colour as the story hits the 1970s. Scenes range from whimsical dream ballet sequences to intimately shot and incredibly tender family moments. The film was shot in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and the UK, in many of the places the Bernsteins lived and worked. The Bernstein children opened up the family home in Fairfield, Connecticut for filming, ensuring much of their parents’ story could be told in the places it actually played out.

Even when using sets, production designer Kevin Thompson strived to make every moment as authentic as possible. For the scenes set in the Bernsteins’ New York apartment — in the iconic Dakota Building – Thompson worked painstakingly to recreate their home, visiting the real apartment to study the architectural details.

The craft

Cooper’s role playing Bernstein through the decades required up to five hours in make up (Jason McDonald/Netflix)

Cooper may be steering the ship, but he’s not the only big name director involved in Maestro, with both Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese on board as producers of the film. And behind the scenes, there’s a raft of artistic talent involved in bringing Leonard and Felicia’s love story to life. Two-time Academy Award winner Kazu Hiro is responsible for Cooper’s prosthetic make-up design – covering four different decades of Bernstein’s life. To play the conductor as a 71-year-old, Cooper spent five hours in the make-up chair.

Another double BAFTA and Oscar Award winner came on board for the costumes. Mark Bridges – who has previously worked on Phantom Thread and The Artist – was tasked with showing the passage of time through shifting hem lengths, textures, colour palettes and cuts. Bernstein’s children opened up their parents’ wardrobes for Bridges to use as a reference, even lending Cooper one of Bernstein’s dressing gowns and Mulligan their mother’s cigarette lighter.

The music

Real-life conductors including Gustavo Dudamel and Yannick Nézet-Ségue helped Cooper prepare (Jason McDonald/Netflix)

Bernstein had a unique breadth of talent – not only was he a prodigious conductor for the New York Philharmonic and dozens of other orchestras around the world, he was also a composer of both classical music and musical theatre, scoring films, ballets and television. Bernstein’s mission was to make classical music accessible to everyone – something he did with his most famous work, West Side Story. In Maestro, Cooper includes as much of his music as possible, calling it the “nuclear weapon” of the film, using it as a soundtrack to key moments in Leonard and Felicia’s relationship.

The most dramatic musical moment is a recreation of Bernstein conducting a performance of Mahler’s 2nd symphony at Ely Cathedral. The six minute scene, in which Cooper actually conducts the London Symphony Orchestra, was the culmination of all his musical preparation. Bernstein once said: ‘I need to conduct with every part of my body, with my shoulders, with my wrists, with my knees.’ Yannick Nézet-Séguin worked with Cooper to help him put in an extremely physical, sweat-drenched but stunning performance that truly evokes the spirit of Bernstein.

Maestro has been nominated for 7 BAFTAs, including Bradley Cooper for Director, Leading Actor and Original Screenplay, and Carey Mulligan for Leading Actress. Watch Maestro on Netflix now