Movie About Jewish Composer Leonard Bernstein Gets Huge Standing Ovation at World Premiere

Shiryn Ghermezian

Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein on the set of “Maestro.” Photo: Netflix.

Maestro, the Bradley Cooper-directed film about the marriage and family life of renowned Jewish composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, received a seven-minute standing ovation when it made its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival last weekend.

Cooper, who also plays Bernstein in the Netflix film, and his co-star Carey Mulligan did not attend the screening on Saturday night because of the ongoing strike by writers and actors that’s all but shuttering Hollywood. However, Bernstein’s three children — Jamie Bernstein, Alexander Bernstein, and Nina Maria Felicia Bernstein — were in the audience and welcomed the applause from the crowd as the film’s credits rolled to their father’s music. They also conducted the end credits, as seen in a video shared on X/Twitter by Deadline.

Bernstein, who famously composed the musical West Side Story and was conductor of the New York Philharmonic for 40 years, died in 1990. Instead of focusing primarily on his career achievements, Maestro spotlights his lifelong relationship with his wife and the mother of his three children, Costa Rican-American actress Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein, who is played in the movie by Mulligan. The couple married in 1951 and stayed together for 25 years, even though Montealegre knew of the extramarital gay relationships Bernstein had. The film’s cast also includes Matt Bomer as Bernstein’s lover; Maya Hawke as Bernstein’s daughter, Jamie; and Sarah Silverman as Bernstein’s sister, Shirley.

Maestro, which Cooper co-wrote with Josh Singer, is among 23 films competing for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. The movie faced some backlash regarding Cooper’s use of a prosthetic nose in his portrayal of the Jewish icon, which the film’s make-up artist apologized for at a Venice Film Festival press conference.

Maestro will make its North American premiere at the New York Film Festival on Oct. 2 at David Geffen Hall, where Bernstein conducted for over a decade. It will then have a limited theatrical release on Nov. 22 before debuting on Netflix on Dec. 20.

Ahead of the film’s screening on Saturday at the Venice Film Festival, a flash mob took place in support of ongoing anti-government protests in Iran.