---
title: "Maestro"
year: 2023
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/maestro"
fi1m_id: "maestro"
imdb_id: "tt5535276"
tmdb_id: 523607
wikidata_id: "Q111907282"
fi1m_score: 72
critics_score: 78
critics_reviews: 20
published: "2026-09-10"
updated: "2026-09-18T08:38:04.933536+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Maestro (2023)

Directed by Bradley Cooper · 2h 09m · MPA R · Drama, Romance, Music

## Identity

Maestro

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/maestro
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** maestro
- **IMDb ID:** tt5535276
- **TMDB ID:** 523607
- **Wikidata ID:** Q111907282
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5535276/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/523607, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q111907282

**Fi1m score: 72** · Critics 78 from 20 reviews

*In a sentence:* A great conductor spends two hours at parties and six minutes at a podium; guess which part we remember

> Bradley Cooper’s film about Leonard Bernstein is a good film about a marriage and a thin one about music. Carey Mulligan’s Felicia is the reason to watch; the man at the centre is accurately imitated and only occasionally alive.

## Synopsis

Leonard Bernstein (Bradley Cooper) is twenty-five and asleep when the telephone rings: the conductor at Carnegie Hall is ill, and the assistant will go on that afternoon without a rehearsal. The performance makes him famous overnight. At a party soon afterwards he meets Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan), an actress, who sees what he is and how he lives and decides to marry him anyway. Bradley Cooper directs, from a script he wrote with Josh Singer, and follows the marriage over three decades, through concert halls, country houses and crowded rooms, with Bernstein’s own music on the soundtrack. Matt Bomer, Sarah Silverman, Michael Urie and Vincenzo Amato are among the household and the hangers-on.

## Review

Leonard Bernstein is in bed when the telephone rings. The conductor at Carnegie Hall is ill, the assistant will go on that afternoon, and there will be no rehearsal. Bradley Cooper plays the call in a bedroom he shares with a man (Matt Bomer’s David Oppenheim), throws back a curtain, and Michelle Tesoro cuts so that the curtain opens straight onto the stage. It is the best cut in the film and it comes in the first five minutes. *Maestro*, Cooper’s second film as director and written with Josh Singer, tells us early that it would rather sweep us along than stop and explain.

It is a good film about a marriage and a thin one about music. Carey Mulligan, billed first and rightly, plays Felicia Montealegre, the actress who meets Bernstein at a party, understands within an evening what she is taking on, and takes it on. Most critics have rated the film higher than we do, and nearly all of them for Mulligan, and about her we have no argument. Where we part company is the man she marries. We are told, often, that he is a genius. We are almost never shown what he does when he composes.

The craft is real. Matthew Libatique shoots the early years in black and white in a narrow frame and the later ones in colour with the frame widened, and the switch tells us time has passed more cleanly than any caption could. Kevin Thompson’s production design gives the Bernsteins pale, high rooms that are always full of other people. Mark Bridges keeps Felicia in tailored lines while Lenny loosens by the decade until he is all cardigan, cigarette and open collar. Early on, Michael Urie’s Jerry Robbins is rehearsing a ballet about sailors on leave, and the film slides out of the rehearsal room into the dance itself, with Lenny and Felicia swept up among the dancers. It is the one stretch where the music tells us something about the two of them rather than playing behind them.

Cooper’s own performance is a careful piece of reconstruction. The voice is dropped and slowed, the hands are never still, the laugh arrives a beat before the joke. We watched him closely and admired the accuracy, and we kept watching him, which is the problem. A performance you keep watching is not a man you have stopped noticing. Cooper the director films Cooper the actor from a fond distance, and the fondness gets in the way. Sarah Silverman, as Bernstein’s sister Shirley, gets the best dry lines and delivers them without looking up. The film treats Bernstein’s affairs with men as a fact of the household rather than a revelation, and that is the right call.

Late in the film Cooper stages Bernstein conducting Mahler in a cathedral, in one long take, the camera close on him, hair plastered down, mouth open, the orchestra loud enough to shake the seat. It got us. We sat forward and forgot we were watching an actor, which we had not managed in the two hours before. When it ended we understood why. It was the first time the film had let us hear a whole stretch of music and simply watch a man do his work. Everything before it had been parties, arguments and montage.

The marriage scenes are where Singer and Cooper’s script is sharpest, because Felicia is allowed to be clever about her situation rather than merely wounded by it. Mulligan plays her as a woman who made a bargain with her eyes open and is annoyed, more than anything, to discover it costs more than she was quoted. Her big speech, delivered in a doorway and mostly without moving, is worth the price of the evening on its own. The second half takes the story somewhere we will not describe.

See it for Mulligan, and turn it up for the Mahler. You will leave knowing how Bernstein smoked, how he laughed and how he treated the people who loved him. You will not be much closer to knowing why the music matters. The film runs 129 minutes and the conducting takes up perhaps six of them.

*Fi1m score 72, published 10 September 2026.*

## Straight answers

**Is Maestro worth watching?**

*Maestro* is worth watching for Carey Mulligan's performance as Felicia Montealegre, and we scored it 72. It is a good film about a marriage and a thin one about music: Bradley Cooper's Bernstein is accurately imitated but only occasionally alive, and the conducting takes up perhaps six of its 129 minutes. Come for the wife, stay for the Mahler.

**How long is Maestro, and what is it rated?**

*Maestro* runs 2h 09m and is rated R by the MPA in the US. It is a drama and romance film.

**Where can I watch Maestro in the US?**

*Maestro* is streaming on Netflix in the US. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How violent or frightening is Maestro, and is it suitable for children?**

*Maestro* is a UK 15 and US R, and it is not violent or frightening at all; the certificate reflects adult material rather than anything alarming. It is a drama about a long marriage, with smoking, drinking, affairs and arguments treated as facts of the household. Older teenagers with an interest in music or acting may take to it; younger children will find two hours of parties and quarrels dull.

**How does Maestro compare to TÁR?**

*Maestro* and [*TÁR*](https://film.one/film/tar) are both films about conductors, and *TÁR* is the better one, because it actually watches the conducting while *Maestro* keeps it to a few minutes. Cooper's film is warmer and easier company, carried by Mulligan's Felicia and a marriage told over three decades. Field's is longer, colder and more exact, and refuses to say what it thinks; if you want to understand what a conductor does, start there.

**What should I watch after Maestro?**

After *Maestro*, try [*Tár*](https://film.one/film/tar) (2022, Fi1m 84): A conductor film that actually watches the conducting, and the fall that follows. Then [*Amadeus*](https://film.one/film/amadeus) (1984, Fi1m 91): The composer biopic that shows you the work, and makes envy the story; and [*A Star Is Born*](https://film.one/film/a-star-is-born) (2018, Fi1m 82): Cooper’s first film as director; simpler, louder, and more sure of what it wants.

### Reviews we read (31)

- **Radio Times** (5/5): Cooper delivers a heartfelt work of astonishing beauty that is emotionally poignant and elegantly made, with a stellar lead performance. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movies/maestro-review/)
- **The Telegraph**, Robbie Collin (5/5): Cooper delivers a dizzyingly good, ambitious Bernstein biopic with ravishing scenes and strong performances from himself and Mulligan focusing on the complex marriage. It takes risks and excites even when not everything lands perfectly. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/maestro-venice-film-review-bradley-cooper-bernstein/)
- **The Times**, Kevin Maher (★★★★★): Cooper directs, writes and stars in a magnificent biopic with career-high performances from himself and Mulligan that are heartbreaking, tragic and tender. The film builds to a transcendent conducting sequence of Mahler that achieves perfection in sound, image and drama. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/music/article/maestro-film-review-leonard-bernstein-bradley-cooper-t0cclhh8m)
- **The i Paper**, Matthew Turner (85/100, inferred): A consistently inventive and frequently exhilarating portrait of Bernstein and his wife that rejects standard biopic conventions in favor of a heartfelt love story; both leads are terrific, with Mulligan utterly heartbreaking. [Read](https://inews.co.uk/culture/film/maestro-review-bradley-cooper-bernstein-oscars-2773089)
- **The AV Club**, Manuel Betancourt (B+): Cooper's film is an inspired ode to Bernstein that deconstructs the tortured-genius trope while centering the compassionate bond with his wife. Mulligan's towering performance as Felicia anchors the ambitious, unruly biopic. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/maestro-movie-review-bradley-cooper-leonard-bernstein-1850975066)
- **Little White Lies**, Lillian Crawford (5/4/4): The film is heady and bombastic like a golden-age Hollywood musical, with standout integration of music and a powerful conducting sequence; it lacks some of Bernstein’s softer side. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/maestro)
- **Total Film** (80/100, inferred): A nailed-on awards contender that distills the essence of a legend thanks to a pair of career-best performances from Cooper and Mulligan; it is an accomplished and classy examination of the unconventional marriage at the heart of Bernstein’s creativity. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/maestro-2023-review/)
- **The Independent**, Geoffrey Macnab (75/100, inferred): Cooper delivers an affectionate, charming portrait of Bernstein as a gregarious and lovable figure full of contradictions; the storytelling is choppy but Mulligan gives a magnificent, award-worthy performance as the pragmatic and ultimately vulnerable Felicia. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/maestro-review-bradley-cooper-movie-netflix-b2466659.html)
- **Vulture**, Bilge Ebiri (70/100, inferred): Cooper's performance is a masterful but cool reconstruction of Bernstein, while Mulligan's reactive turn as Felicia is the emotional heart of the film. The movie proves Cooper's directorial vision even if it remains emotionally stunted and unresolved. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/article/maestro-bradley-coopers-leonard-bernstein-biopic-at-venice.html)
- **Film Comment**, Geeta Dayal (55/100, inferred): The critic argues that Maestro sidelines Bernstein's music in favor of his relationship with his wife, praising Cooper's energetic performance but lamenting the lack of deeper exploration into the creative process. [Read](https://www.filmcomment.com/blog/great-performances-bradley-cooper-maestro-sofia-coppola-priscilla-review/)
- **Empire**, Ian Freer: A much more ambitious directorial follow-up that emerges as an effective portrait of a troubled genius’s spouse thanks to brilliant filmmaking and memorable scenes; Mulligan gives possibly her best performance and walks away with the movie. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/maestro/)
- **Evening Standard**, Jo-Ann Titmarsh: Cooper pulls off something special with reverence and talent in this Venice premiere review of the Bernstein biopic focused on his marriage; Mulligan delivers a career-best performance as the put-upon wife in an accomplished and moving film. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/maestro-movie-review-bradley-cooper-leonard-bernstein-carey-mulligan-b1104350.html)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Justin Chang: The review calls it one of the year's great marriage stories, commending the balanced, elegant portrait of the Bernsteins and Mulligan's standout performance. It singles out the narrative elegance, formal brio, and corrective to great-man biopic conventions for praise. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2023-11-21/maestro-review-bradley-cooper-leonard-bernstein-carey-mulligan-netflix)
- **Screen Daily**: Cooper conducts an impressively-mounted if uneven portrait that honestly addresses the larger-than-life flaws of its central character while focusing strongly on his performance. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/maestro-venice-review/5185495.article)
- **Sight and Sound**: The biopic is good on Bernstein the man and especially strong on his marriage but disappointingly vague on his music and compositions. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/maestro-superbly-acted-biopic-thats-disappointingly-vague-on-leonard-bernsteins-music)
- **The Guardian**, Wendy Ide: Cooper captures Bernstein's warring dualities in an ambitious, kinetic biopic that reflects them in its structure and visuals. Carey Mulligan delivers a career-best turn as Felicia, with the music providing heart-swelling highlights amid some overbearing moments. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/nov/26/maestro-review-bradley-cooper-carey-mulligan-leonard-bernstein-biopic)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, David Rooney: Cooper delivers a symphonic, emotionally layered portrait of Leonard Bernstein and his wife Felicia's complex marriage that avoids easy clichés. The film excels in its use of music and its focus on the couple's enduring yet strained bond. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/maestro-review-bradley-cooper-carey-mulligan-leonard-bernstein-netflix-1235575970/)
- **The New York Times**, Manohla Dargis: The critic praises Cooper's intimate portrait of Bernstein's ecstatic rise and personal toll, with lush music and narrative velocity as highlights. It notes the film's complication of the great-man template through focus on his marriage. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/22/movies/maestro-review-leonard-bernstein.html)
- **Collider**, Emma Kiely (9/10): The film subverts typical biopic tropes by centering the marriage between Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre rather than his musical achievements alone. Cooper and Mulligan deliver standout performances with strong chemistry that bring depth and vulnerability to their relationship. [Read](https://collider.com/maestro-review/)
- **Digital Spy**, Mireia Mullor (80/100, inferred): Praises the focus on the Bernstein-Montealegre relationship and especially Mulligan's grounded, relatable performance that balances Cooper's flashy, overwhelming direction, concluding the film is well worth watching. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a46161308/maestro-netflix-review/)
- **Den of Geek**, Matthew Byrd (75/100, inferred): Views Maestro as a fascinating subversion of biopic tropes that deliberately withholds information to explore the emptiness of fame, praising the performances of Cooper and especially Mulligan. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/maestro-the-anti-biopic-that-deserved-more-awards-love/)
- **Paste**, Anna McKibbin (7.5/10): The film offers an advanced view of marriage through the couple’s evolving relationship and genuine care, with standout moments when it focuses on their chemistry and emotional highs. Cooper’s pacing and structuring issues make the narrative feel disjointed and occasionally melodramatic despite strong performances. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/bradley-cooper/maestro-review)
- **Polygon**, Joshua Rivera (75/100, inferred): The film functions as a prism for Cooper’s own career ambitions, paralleling Bernstein’s internal conflicts as conductor and composer with the director’s balancing of prestige and mainstream work. It excels in generous framing around supporting characters like Felicia but risks self-aggrandizement through its intense focus on the act of creation. [Read](https://www.polygon.com/reviews/23983210/maestro-review-netflix-bradley-cooper/)
- **Eye for Film**, Anne-Katrin Titze (70/100, inferred): Maestro is described as a starry affair on all fronts with impressive production values, performances, and direction, particularly in capturing Bernstein’s manic energy and the details of his life and relationships. The critic notes the film’s full life and many episodes but highlights how the prosthetics and artifice sometimes distance the viewer from the real man. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/maestro-2023-film-review-by-anne-katrin-titze)
- **/Film**, Rafael Motamayor (7/10): Cooper delivers the sights and sounds effectively but the story is lackluster, resulting in a disappointingly tame traditional awards-season biopic focused on a doomed marriage. There are moments of greatness in the visual eye and performances, and Cooper shows promise as a director. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/1415797/maestro-review/)
- **HeyUGuys**, Jack Hawkins (3/5): The film is beautifully framed, dressed and performed with strong work from Cooper and Mulligan, but the intimate focus on the Bernsteins’ marriage sidelines Bernstein’s music and prevents it from becoming an absorbing biopic. Cooper took the project seriously but the result lacks energy and scope. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/maestro-review/)
- **The Ringer**, Adam Nayman (60/100, inferred): The film embraces biopic conventions wholeheartedly through Cooper’s committed performance and technical proficiency, resulting in a showy but largely effective portrait of Bernstein and his marriage. It lacks critical distance, making the adulation feel monotonous and somewhat self-congratulatory. [Read](https://www.theringer.com/2023/12/20/movies/maestro-review-bradley-cooper-leonard-bernstein)
- **The Playlist**, Rafa Sales Ross (C): Cooper plays it too safe with an undaring biopic that follows a classically structured marriage drama rather than challenging conventions. Strong moments of musical ecstasy and Cooper’s physical performance briefly elevate it, but it remains prosaic overall. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/maestro-review-bradley-cooper-plays-it-a-little-too-safe-with-undaring-leonard-bernstein-biopic-venice-20230902/)
- **Deadline**, Pete Hammond: The critic praises Cooper’s assured direction and his focus on the complex 25-year marriage between Bernstein and Felicia rather than a conventional biopic, calling the performances by Cooper and Mulligan compelling and the music a standout element. [Read](https://deadline.com/2023/09/maestro-review-bradley-cooper-leonard-bernstein-carey-mulligan-venice-film-festival-1235533133/)
- **Film Stories**, Maria Lattila: The critic finds the film a frustrating and messy biopic that fails to dig deeply into its characters or deliver a cohesive story, despite some brilliant individual scenes of musical performance. Cooper's technical craft and the lead performances are praised but the overall result lacks the impact of his previous directorial effort. [Read](https://filmstories.co.uk/reviews/maestro-review-bradley-coopers-follow-up-to-a-star-is-born-is-a-bold-misfire/)
- **The Wrap**, Ben Croll: The critic commends Cooper for avoiding a one-hit-wonder sophomore slump, highlighting inventive staging, match cuts, and Mulligan’s standout introspective monologue, while noting the film’s emphasis on Bernstein’s showmanship and marital dynamics over career highlights. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/maestro-review-bradley-cooper/)

## Details

- **Director:** Bradley Cooper
- **Director:** Bradley Cooper
- **Writer:** Bradley Cooper, Josh Singer
- **Cinematography:** Matthew Libatique
- **Editor:** Michelle Tesoro
- **Music:** Leonard Bernstein
- **Production design:** Kevin Thompson
- **Costume design:** Mark Bridges
- **Producer:** Fred Berner, Martin Scorsese, Bradley Cooper
- **Cast:** Carey Mulligan as Felicia Montealegre; Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein; Matt Bomer as David Oppenheim; Vincenzo Amato as Bruno Zirato; Greg Hildreth as Isaac; Michael Urie as Jerry Robbins; Brian Klugman as Aaron Copeland; Nick Blaemire as Adolph Green
- **Runtime:** 2h 09m
- **Certificate (MPA):** R
- **Release (the US):** 22 November 2023
- **Genres:** Drama, Romance, Music
- **Also in:** [Best Picture winners](https://film.one/collections/oscar-best-picture.md) (Nominee, 2023); [Golden Globe Best Drama winners](https://film.one/collections/golden-globe-drama.md) (Nominee, 2023)
- **Budget:** $80 million
- **Box office:** $300,000
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJP2QblqLA0

## Where to watch in the US

- Netflix: streaming

*Checked 2026-09-10.*

Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, AZ, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IS, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, SK, TH, TR, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *Tár* (2022), Fi1m 84: A conductor film that actually watches the conducting, and the fall that follows. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/tar.md)
- *Hilary and Jackie* (1998): Two sisters, one cello, and a British film unafraid of how music costs people.
- *Scenes from a Marriage* (1973): Bergman’s long look at a marriage, with no orchestra to hide behind.
- *Amadeus* (1984), Fi1m 91: The composer biopic that shows you the work, and makes envy the story. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/amadeus.md)
- *A Star Is Born* (2018), Fi1m 82: Cooper’s first film as director; simpler, louder, and more sure of what it wants. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/a-star-is-born.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/maestro