Who was the “maestro” Leonard Bernstein played by Bradley Cooper?

In Maestro, Bradley Cooper’s new feature film available on Netflix, the actor plays this major figure in classical music, known worldwide for the score of West Side Story. Portrait.

Maestrosecond feature film directed by Bradley Cooper, five years later A Star is Born, comes across as the biopic that it really isn’t. It is also one of the qualities of this intimate portrait of the American conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein (1918 – 1990) to avoid the usual litany: life, death, glory, fall. .. It is therefore likely that at the end of the film you will know more about the man’s interiority than about his life outside of himself. It is therefore not useless to mention here certain biographical haunts and other feats of arms.

Leonard Bernstein, from a Ukrainian Jewish family based in Massachusetts and educated at Harvard, owes his reputation largely to the score of West Side Story, a musical comedy which will triumph on Broadway before becoming the double cinematographic monument that we know, that of Wise (1961) then of Spielberg (2021). Steven Spielberg who was initially supposed to direct Maestro is one of the producers of the film through his company Amblin Entertainment.

Review of Maestro by Bradley Cooper

Feverish conductor

The consecration obtained thanks to West Side Story which should not cover everything else. Two decisive meetings decided his path: the conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos and the composer Aaron Copland. Bernstein will conduct the greatest orchestras in the world including theNew York Philharmonic Orchestra. His fever, his expressive gestures, made his appearances on stage anthological. In Todd Field’s film,Tarthe conductor played by Cate Blanchett openly claims to be Leonard Bernstein.

One of the highlights of Maestro is a sequence in Ely Cathedral near Cambridge where Bradley Cooper in the title role, directs with astonishing ardor the London Symphony Orchestra interpreting the Symphony No. 2 by Gustav Mahler. Cooper, who decided to film it in a long sequence shot, admits to having worked for six years to recreate the pantomime of his model. Bernstein is also the author of several symphonies, operas and operettas.

A freed spirit

In 1951, Bernstein married actress Felicia Montealegre (played on screen by Carey Mulligan) with whom he had three children. “ You are a homosexual and that will probably never changeshe wrote to her husband. I am ready to accept you as you are because I love you passionately. » Bernstein would multiply his male conquests during the 25 years that their marriage lasted. If we add the composer’s humanist positions, we will not be surprised that he was in the crosshairs of the FBI seeking to “bring him down” during the witch hunt.

A pop star

In addition to his status within classical music circles, Bernstein has been a popular figure in the United States. Charismatic and educational, he has participated in several TV shows to share his insights. Between 58 and 72, he led a sort of Star Ac’ classical music, Omnibus which allows young students to perform alongside him. In 1967, he hosted the show Inside Pop-The Rock Revolutiona documentary on new musical genres popular with young people where he states: “ The Beatles are the Schuberts of our time! » A way of breaking down the walls that separate “great” music from other forms deemed less noble. Even before classical music, it was jazz that rocked Leonard Bernstein’s childhood. The man died on October 14, 1990 from lung cancer and pneumonia at the age of 72.

Maestro by and with Bradley Cooper and also: Carey Mulligan, Matt Bomer, Maya Hawke… Duration: 2h09. On Netflix from December 20.