" AMBIGUITY IN BRADLEY COOPER'S 'MAESTRO' "

     Leonard Bernstein's biopic, "MAESTRO," starring Bradley Cooper, is a recent film that deserves to be seen and appreciated. But that observation is not because it's a biopic about a great American composer/conductor. In fact, the movie is also about another creator, namely the director, producer and screenwriter of the work itself: Bradley Cooper. Thus, the style, content and themes derive from Cooper's own imagination, beliefs, and even, perhaps, his real life. ( Pardon yours truly from being presumptuous on that last assumption. )

     Another point about the importance of "Maestro" needs attention as well. Both Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg are the film's producers, men who are considered by many as great American movie makers. (Scorsese, particularly, owes his success to someone else - a NYU cinema professor who was his mentor ). While Scorsese and Spielberg have produced many projects showcasing the talent of other individuals, we feel that Cooper's endeavor is different: more ambitious, controversial, personal, compelling. But the work needed help from special people like Scorsese and Spielberg, who had also been aided themselves by extraordinary individuals.

     The film's thematic value is as important as these already mentioned comments: that is, the idea of contradiction. Such aspects are narrative in nature, concerning the movie's characters. For example, obviously, there's Bernstein's dual sexuality and his compulsion to do many things at one time ( pointed out in an Edward R. Murrow interview on TV ). There's also, as his wife tells him, his liking of people. Yet he actually hates them. Opposition abounds in other ways, namely Bernstein's emotional personality vs. his wife's much more restricted demeanor.

    Contradiction exists in "Maestro's" cinematic style, too. Thus, it forms consistent, coherent and stunning visual imagery or patterns. First, there is the way the camera views scenes in long shots and long takes while Bernstein and his wife, Felicia, are often having an emotional conversation: an intimate/close interchange is seen from a distance. Another contradictory pattern is apparent when a character is facing the camera/viewer and then turns he/her back on us, especially dramatic in the film's last shot.

     It must be noted that "Maestro's" opening montage begins various visual contradictions which continue to the film's end. For example, the opening shot is in color changing to black and white,

the following scenes going from place to place and time to time ( from Bernstein's bedroom to a theatre ). From present to past.

     Whatever various themes viewers may attribute to "Maestro" ( particularly that it is a love story about Bernstein and his wife or Bernstein's love for his family ) we are basically left with one main idea: AMBIGUITY. Which is another way of characterizing contradiction. 

     Many of us may accept ambiguity to identify Leonard Bernstein: If so, it makes perfect sense. After all, to be ambiguous is to be human and in this case, a genius as well.