‘Maestro‘, the 2014 movie by Swiss director Lea Frazer, has a significant story and a history of its own. The original screenplay was written by actor and director Jocelyn Quivrin as a tribute to Eric Rohmer, director of the New French Wave, in whose last film, made in 2007 at the age of 87, he also featured. Destiny, however, decided that Jocelyn Quivrin would die in a car accident two years after making that film. Lea Frazer took over and rewrote the screenplay of the film, which, when made in 2014, became a tribute to the two filmmakers, from different and quite distant generations, whose lives and careers had intersected.
Uninformed viewers, and I confess that I was one of them, find out these details only at the end of the film, at the beginning of the credits run. Until then, they have the opportunity to watch a film about making a film, about actors and directors, and about encounters and conflicts between generations, a film that also includes a love story, and which strives to say some interesting things in a light and empathetic approach. The heroes are Henri, an actor without much success but with a lot of chutzpah who aspires to become a Hollywood star, and Cedric Rovere, a veteran director, a sacred monster appreciated by critics but not by the public or financiers, as were most of the directors of the New Wave who have reached the old age. Henri is cast to star in Cedric’s film and through a contest of circumstances he even gets a rather significant role. The filming of the low-cost production is not exactly what was expecting, but on the set he meets a starlet with whom he falls instantly in love, without knowing how to overcome the cultural gaps between him, Bruce Willis’s admirer, and she, actress in Chekhov’s plays. Cedric will intervene discreetly, so for the young actor the lesson will be double – artistic and life.
Lea Frazer manages to create a refreshing movie, which combines romantic comedy with ‘film in film’. There are some direct ironies in ‘Maestro‘ about American productions, but also about sterile European ‘art’ cinema that has no chance of capturing the public’s interest. The performances of Michael Lonsdale and Pio Marmai are remarkable. They belong, like the characters they play, to very different generations. Each separately and in his own style is a remarkable actor, and in the scenes in which they appear together they manage to complement and amplify each other. The quality of the film is also given by the light style, which reminds him of that of Eric Rohmer‘s films, a director who even in comedies took love very seriously, but never tragically. A tribute and quality entertainment.