I like Carey Mulligan and always find her very winning. She kept me somewhat engaged in the new biopic Maestro, now on Netflix after its theatrical run, playing Felicia Montealegre, the life partner of composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein. He’s played by Bradley Cooper, who generally has the opposite effect on me, losing me completely.

And he’s never lost me so completely as he did in his last writing-directing-starring effort, A Star Is Born (2018), which was so horribly botched I couldn’t wait for his character to die and get out of Lady Gaga’s way. So I didn’t have high hopes for Maestro, though it’s getting many of the usual mindless critical raves accorded to apparently serious-minded, end-of-year, Oscar-bait films with high production values and shiny names attached. Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese are producers on this one, and the three Bernstein children were heavily involved in its development. By announcing their strong approval of the film, they helped get it through the bad publicity of the “Jewface” scandal, which was catalyzed by the revelation of the prosthetic nose Cooper wore in order to more closely resemble Leonard Bernstein.

The three Bernstein children’s involvement is probably why it seems that crucial aspects of their parents’ lives were censored or glossed over. That should be a filmmaker’s rule — never seek the cooperation of family if you want to make a good biopic. They’re sure to want a more blandly conventional and affirming version of the much spikier life story.