Don’t let your idyllic marriage get in the way of your gay flings. That’s the vibe of Maestro, based on the official trailer. Bradley Cooper directs and stars in the tender biopic about the celebrated West Side Story composer Leonard Bernstein and his wife, Felicia Montealegre Bernstein (Carey Mulligan). We see the couple’s past, where Cooper renders their courtship and marriage in a narrow black-and-white aspect ratio meant to evoke a golden age of Hollywood well-to-do 1940s romance. We see their future in Technicolor. Bernstein appears to have achieved his dreams, and at parties and in empty corridors, he has his little dalliances. They’re two ducks in a pond, mated for life, watching their kids swim in Hockney-blue pools — no matter how Bernstein steps out. “If summer doesn’t sing in you, then nothing sings in you,†he says, remembering an expression he learned from his wife. “And if nothing sings in you, then you can’t make music.†Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg produced the film, written by Cooper and Josh Singer. Maestro arrives in theaters in November and on Netflix December 20. Bradley Cooper arrives for his Oscar … SAG strike pending.
This post has been updated.