Symphony of Lies: Bradley Cooper’s MAESTRO

Alright, Bradley. We really need you to speak up sometimes. Subtitles needed.

Anyway, Cooper directs an emotionally great film. The Kodak film trend this year has made for some great cinematography. Most of these shots look magnificent enough to hang in museums. Carey Mulligan was chillingly good as the co-lead and gave the audience a sense of reality in a biopic filled with so much surreal fame. Hats off to the makeup department with the detailed aging of both of the lead actors. In some instances, this movie felt similar to Spielberg’s 2022 film The Fabelmans, told from the parents’ personal perspectives. The emotional weight on Felicia is most greatly felt in scenes of dramatic one-takes, leading from an early spinal injury talk on the floor to eventually giving us one of the best scenes of the year, featuring none other than Snoopy.

This is a quote from Jamie Bernstein in Time magazine, daughter of the Maestro, on the film’s use of her novel. She added that Cooper took very good care of the book’s identity, adding excerpts into the film. The quote is from the heartbreaking battle in the family towards the end of the film.

“…it took many more years for me to comprehend what my mother was telling me: Don’t let your own feelings prevent you from understanding the feelings of others. Open your heart, and keep your heart open, always.”

This quote leaves so much to be said about how women dealt with pain and negligence to be happy throughout the 1950s and 1960s, regardless of the terrible situation. Her scenes are hard to watch without feeling any amount of sorrow. Felicia finds ways to be happy in the largest of turmoils. Mulligan plays an incredibly strong female figure in such a heartbreaking role.

Jamie Bernstein’s Time magazine piece:

https://time.com/6509746/jamie-bernstein-maestro-essay/