Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut in A Star Is Born showed much promise in his future endeavours behind the camera. It showed someone with a lot of confidence in his ability both in front and behind the camera, and Maestro is proof that his talent – and, to an extent, his potential – is immense.

Leonard Berstein is widely considered one of the most influential composers of his time and one of the most outstanding American conductors, but behind the man stood a woman who stood by him through everything. And this is the story that Cooper is much more interested in telling than one of a man’s rise into stardom.

Maestro, in many ways, isn’t just a Berstein biopic; it is much more of a Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein biopic. The film is less interested in telling Berstein’s story and much more interesting in telling the nuanced story of a man who was torn between his truth and a woman he deeply cared for.

While Bradley Cooper is incredible as Leonard Berstein, it is Carey Mulligan as Felicia who is the film’s emotional core. This film is Cooper’s love letter to a woman who put her needs aside for a man she saw how great he could be. It’s something you can appreciate with how Cooper crafted both of his directorial outings, using both as a vehicle for his performances. Still, in the end, his female co-stars, Lady Gaga and Carey Mulligan, outshined him.

Both performances hold your attention because even if the film worked in most aspects, there is one glaring flaw that stands with the script.

It is impossible to pass over the fact that the script is without real punch and mostly glances over Berstein’s life without delving much into the nuance that Cooper is trying to explore. It’s a shame because the film is a vignette of moments in his life instead of a true exploration of a man living a double life. It is so interested in the love between Felicia and Leonard that it forgets to stop for a second and explore the implication of what that had on both of them. Instead, the film moves fast and barely tries to go into his psyche.

It’s a shame that the script cannot do the end product justice like the film deserves. If there is one thing to take away from Maestro, it is that Bradley Cooper can direct. The step up from his direction between A Star is Born, and the stark difference between both is immense. That is the most apparent in the cinematography of the film. 

Watching a film and finding yourself going “Wow” when looking at a shot is always an incredible feeling. And Maestro has multiple of those types of moments that simply had me in awe. There is a sequence in a cathedral where Berstein plays a concert towards the end of the film that had me go “Jesus” at the end because the camera movement paired with the acting and production design just elevated everything. It’s a feat that can be hard to pull because films that try to do a lot with their camera movement can often be felt as trying too hard, but Maestro never does. And that is a testament to Cooper’s direction and Matthew Libatique, who’s at the top of the form with his cinematography.

Maestro might have a weaker script; you can wish it had delved deeper into the men it is about. Still, a pair of solid performances, a director at the peak of his form and cinematography that just leaves you in awe create a film that can be forgiven for its massive flaw.