Nominally this film is about Bernstein and Cooper's performance - with the magic of prosthetics - but the most memorable element is Mulligan's performance as Felicia, which is more expansive, deep, and finally, more critical to the whole work. Indeed the second half of the film is more engaging than the first and it's the tension within the Bernstein marriage which shifts attention from the stellar career of golden boy, Leonard, to his wife and her illness. The transition is helped by Cooper's almost Bergmansesuqe direction: the shot duration, framing, the lack of cuts, the focus on the humanity and human face take the movie bio into a more personal space and Cooper, the director, may have outdone Cooper, the actor.
The recreation of the post war era is done with great attention and that includes the actors' performances, the voices, their accents and cadences (Mulligan again is superb). The progression through time is done episodically but if there is a weaknesses it is that these sequences merge into one with Bernstein, cigarettes in hand, grinning, being a great collaborator, etc and everyone is his friend, very intimate or just and admirer.
The ballet scenes works especially well (pity it was not used again in some way) as does shaping the entire film in the relationship between Leonard and Felicia. Other would be bio movie makers take note: use a significant element of a life and develop it synecdochally ( marriage); do not try to condense a whole life (Oppenheimer) into a film and make it like speed reading 800 page biography.
Bernstein's dilemma between conducting and composing is shown as well as his relative sense of achievements. The conducting sequences are adequate but some more may have been feasible although running time and whether it was comprehensible to audiences without a context for conducting history could have been a consideration.
But for all the good work here, ultimately it is Mulligan's Felicia that elevates the film to high status and if she wins many accolades for it, they are truly deserved.
The recreation of the post war era is done with great attention and that includes the actors' performances, the voices, their accents and cadences (Mulligan again is superb). The progression through time is done episodically but if there is a weaknesses it is that these sequences merge into one with Bernstein, cigarettes in hand, grinning, being a great collaborator, etc and everyone is his friend, very intimate or just and admirer.
The ballet scenes works especially well (pity it was not used again in some way) as does shaping the entire film in the relationship between Leonard and Felicia. Other would be bio movie makers take note: use a significant element of a life and develop it synecdochally ( marriage); do not try to condense a whole life (Oppenheimer) into a film and make it like speed reading 800 page biography.
Bernstein's dilemma between conducting and composing is shown as well as his relative sense of achievements. The conducting sequences are adequate but some more may have been feasible although running time and whether it was comprehensible to audiences without a context for conducting history could have been a consideration.
But for all the good work here, ultimately it is Mulligan's Felicia that elevates the film to high status and if she wins many accolades for it, they are truly deserved.