Review of "Maestro"

This afternoon I viewed the film, Maestro, a biographical film about the personal life of composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein. It is a powerful and convincing impersonation of a man whose appearance, speech, and mannerisms are already known to millions. It is a daring thing to do.

What most everyone has always known is that Bernstein was a gay man in a generation where that mere fact, on top of being Jewish, would have meant no conducting career with a top-tier orchestra. So like many in his generation, he hid behind a marriage. That he loved his wife Felicja is undoubted, and they had three children. The film depicts the kind of marriage that existed then, when a wife endured and overlooked her husband's boyfriends as long as he was "discreet."

 

It is a torture to see this, and I have seldom seen this caged unhappiness so well portrayed. Bernstein's giant talent and giant ego made it all the more difficult. He is the greatest American-born conductor of the 20th century.

 

I did not enjoy seeing Bernstein drunk and snorting cocaine, and I assume this is all true since it is an honest, and authorized, biographical depiction. But these are further demonstrations of emotional repression. Despite his triumphs, this is not a happy man.

Those who love Bernstein the musician may not care a jot about his personal life. I think it matters that people should know, especially in this time when some want to drive gay people underground again, what that dishonesty costs.

 

The only lengthy musical excerpt showing Bernstein conducting is the finale of Mahler's Second Symphony, and this is the high point of the film. For those coming to the film knowing nothing about Bernstein, this recreation of his conducting style with the most wildly stirring finale in all Western music, shows what he meant to musicians and to his listeners. He did indeed set people on fire.

 

That said, do not expect this to be a film with long musical intervals. It's an emotional and packed life history. You have to bring your own memories of Bernstein's recordings to it.