Venice Film Festival: All Your Questions About Bradley Cooper’s ‘Maestro’ Answered

During a 1976 lecture at Harvard University, the conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein stated, “A work of art does not answer questions, it provokes them.”

It’s becoming that Bradley Cooper opens his new film in regards to the musician with that very same quote: Ever because the teaser trailer dropped for “Maestro,” which Cooper directed, co-wrote and starred in, all types of questions have been flying. And although Bernstein could have been hesitant to reply queries about artwork, I really feel no such reluctance: Having caught the film Saturday throughout its debut on the Venice Film Festival, I’m able to fill you in on all the things you may need to learn about “Maestro.”

What’s it about?

Due on Netflix in December, “Maestro” tracks the distinctive however difficult lifetime of Bernstein, greatest generally known as the composer of works like “West Side Story” and extensively thought-about America’s first nice conductor. When we meet Bernstein, he’s about to get his massive break because the fill-in conductor of the New York Philharmonic, news he excitedly shares with the good-looking musical collaborator (Matt Bomer) who continues to be bare in his mattress. But as Bernstein’s profile rises, he finds himself beguiled by Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan), an actress with an unique Chilean accent and amusing like a musical trill.

“The world wants us to be one thing and I find that deplorable,” Bernstein confides to her. Pressured by associates to reside his life and work in a approach that’s “clean,” Bernstein marries Montealegre, who accepts his occasional dalliances with males as long as he’s discreet. The downside is, he isn’t. (Alongside “Oppenheimer” and the forthcoming “Ferrari,” you might file “Maestro” beneath “Movies About Major 20th-Century Figures Who Might Have Fooled Around a Little Too Much.”)

So is it a biography of Bernstein?

If you discuss with “Maestro” as a biopic, count on a sternly worded e-mail from the film’s reps. The movie is definitely a love story, they insist. It’s true that the 27-year marriage between Bernstein and Montealegre is the first concern.

It’s additionally true that “Maestro” doesn’t play by conventional biopic guidelines. This isn’t a cradle-to-the-grave file of Bernstein’s inventive accomplishments, which largely happen within the background or within the ellipses between scenes. Even his iconic “West Side Story” rating is heard solely as soon as, because the sudden soundtrack to a home scene late within the film. You do get to see Bernstein conduct in a virtuoso lengthy take, however the movie’s most notable musical sequence is a dream ballet. (Between that scene and the “I’m Just Ken” quantity from “Barbie,” cinematic dream ballets are actually having a second.)

What’s up with that pretend nostril?

After Netflix launched the teaser trailer for “Maestro” in mid-August, the prosthetic nostril Cooper wore to play Bernstein was criticized on social media, and a few questioned why a non-Jewish actor was enjoying such a well-known Jewish determine to start with. In response, the Bernsteins’ three youngsters issued an announcement, saying, “It happens to be true that Leonard Bernstein had a nice, big nose. Bradley chose to use makeup to amplify his resemblance, and we’re perfectly fine with that.”

Leaving problems with propriety apart, how does Cooper’s pretend schnoz look within the film? It helps that the primary time “Maestro” reveals Cooper is throughout a short flash-forward set close to the tip of Bernstein’s life: The nostril is just one aspect of the frankly astonishing old-age make-up he’s bought on, so it’s hardly the very first thing you’d discover. But when the movie flashes again to Bernstein as a younger man, the prosthetic proves intermittently distracting. It’s each an excessive amount of and never sufficient: Unlike the pretend nostril in “The Hours,” which actually did render Nicole Kidman unrecognizable, younger Bernstein simply seems like Bradley Cooper sporting an enormous beak.

Why is Carey Mulligan billed first?

The trailer for “Maestro” offers Mulligan first billing over Cooper, and the preliminary poster for the movie options solely her, which led observers to marvel if “Maestro” can be advised primarily by means of Montealegre’s standpoint.

It isn’t. Though Mulligan has far more to do than among the different struggling spouses in movies this 12 months, Cooper edges her out decisively in the case of display time. (Even for those who regard “Maestro” as virtually a two-hander, it’s he who has the higher hand.) But hey, the billing was a pleasant gesture, not less than! Or possibly Cooper, who’s cited 5 separate instances within the credit for “Maestro,” merely felt he ought to give his title a short reprieve.

Will ‘Maestro’ be an Oscar contender?

Cooper’s characteristic directing debut, “A Star Is Born” (2018), was nominated for eight Oscars and received one, for its unique music, “Shallow.” Can “Maestro” show to be related Oscar bait and even snag Cooper the best-director nomination he missed out on a couple of years in the past?

Raves from trade trades Variety and the Hollywood Reporter will assist increase the movie’s awards possibilities, although cooler reactions from IndieWire and Vulture counsel not all critics can be in lock step. And because the SAG-AFTRA strike inhibits Cooper’s capability to advertise “Maestro” — he wasn’t even capable of seem on the Venice news convention or premiere, since guild guidelines presently prohibit actors from doing press for big-studio initiatives — he’ll must depend on others to make the case for him.

But it’s onerous to disclaim the bigness of these lead performances, and after “A Star Is Born” best-actor nominee Cooper misplaced the Oscar to a prosthetics-laden Rami Malek enjoying an actual particular person, possibly it’s Cooper’s flip to have that type of award-magnet position. It’ll be a crowded subject filled with contenders like Cillian Murphy (“Oppenheimer”) and Leonardo DiCaprio (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), however you’ll be able to’t rely out a nine-time nominee like Cooper: If he will get in, I think will probably be by rather more than a nostril.