Bradley Cooper directs himself as conductor-composer Leonard Bernstein in a screenplay by Cooper and Josh Singer that chronicles Bernstein's lifelong relationship with actress Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein (Carey Mulligan). (129 min.)

• Photo Courtesy Of Netflix
• YOUNG LOVERS Maestro, in local theaters and on Netflix, explores the complicated lifelong relationship between actress Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein (Carey Mulligan) and conductor-composer Leonard Bernstein (Bradley Cooper).

Glen Talk about a thorny relationship—Lenny and Felicia really went through the wringer. Despite the film's title, this is very much Felicia's story and highlights the burdens she bore as Lenny's paramour. He very much loved her, but he also loved men, and a lot of the story revolves around her learning the limits of what she could bear. That said, it's also a carefully constructed story about an artist wrestling with his demons, chief among them being his enormous ego. When you receive that level of adoration, I guess it's hard not to believe your own hype. For my money, Bernstein's most enduring work was his popular stuff: Westside Story, On the Town (with its gay subtext on full display in a fantasy dance sequence), and Candide. This film made me appreciate his classic work as well, and his gifts as a conductor, especially in the scene where he directs the London Symphony Orchestra in the finale of Mahler's "Symphony No. 2 (Resurrection)" in the Ely Cathedral. It's a stunning set piece.

Anna The filmmaking here is clever. With the past part of the film in black and white, we learn the story of Bernstein's start as a conductor and the young love between him and Felicia. Cooper plays the character with panache, a man who is both drunk on his own talent and tortured by it. His later years are spent in color, and we watch as his ego finally gets the best of him, and we're also shown Felicia's sad descent as she succumbs to cancer. The love the two have is evident, but Leonard's actions are a reminder of how cutting we can be to those we claim to love the most. While his name and legacy are well known, his body of work was not familiar to me beyond the works you mentioned above. He was an obvious force of nature, a tortured artist, a lost soul—and it all came back to the music for him. While Felicia may have been the love of his life in the physical world, music was what truly captured his spirit.

Glen There's been talk about Cooper's prosthetic nose, and I have to say I wasn't distracted by it in the least. The makeup work was amazing and blended seamlessly with the performances. There's a fine line between trying to disappear into a character and engaging in impression, and in addition to his physical features, Cooper creates a convincing facsimile of his nasally speech patterns. He really becomes Leonard Bernstein, and I think he deserves a nomination for both Best Actor and Best Director. This is a remarkable film, and the fact that Bernstein's three children cooperated so closely with Cooper in making the film says a lot.

Anna It does, especially since the film isn't trying to make Bernstein out as a saint but instead the complicated, nuanced character he was. There are award-worthy performances and direction in Maestro, and I applaud Cooper's ability to direct himself in such an intimate performance—there's always another layer added when an actor portrays a real-life character, especially one who's well known. This film absolutely deserves to be seen on the big screen, so I encourage those who are going to see it to do so in a real theater. While it will still prove to be engaging on the small screen, these performances and this stylized filmmaking deserve an in-theater viewing. Δ

Senior Staff Writer Glen Starkey and freelancer Anna Starkey write Split Screen. Comment at [email protected].