I confess that I was a little afraid to watch ‘The Yellow Tie‘, the film by Serge Ioan Celebidachi. Writing a biography or making a biographical film about one’s own father, a dominant personality not only in his field but also in his personal life, is an act of courage that assumes the inherent risks of subjectivity. The result can be polluted towards idolization or – there have been such cases – towards demonization. ‘The Yellow Tie‘ elegantly assumes this risk and minimizes it through meticulous documentation and a total adherence to the artistic truth that was the supreme goal of the life and career of the superb musician that was Sergiu Celibidache. In addition, unlike other biographies of great musicians (the genre is very fashionable in recent years), the emphasis in this film is placed on the art of music. In this way, I believe that ‘The Yellow Tie‘ manages to capture the essence of the musician’s personality much better, rehabilitating in my eyes the genre of biopics of musicians, somewhat compromised by several recent productions of Romanian and not only Romanian cinema.
‘The Yellow Tie‘ is built from two parallel narrative threads. The musician in the last years of his life continues to be active as a teacher and as a father. The relationship with his son tries to compensate for the difficult relationship that the great conductor had with his own father, who opposed his musical career, leaving the young man who did not want to abandon his vocation to manage his career and life alone in the tumultuous years of the interwar period. The great conductor’s career is nearing its end, but some of his obsessions continue to accompany him: the aspiration for perfection, the preference given to truth over superficial beauty, the belief in the spontaneity and uniqueness of the musical act resulting in the refusal to record on discs. The main milestones of his career are captured – his studies in Berlin during the Nazi period, the war, the great chance to rebuild and conduct the Berlin Philharmonic immediately after the war, the meeting with his great love and especially the first return to Romania after decades of exile. There is no lack of idealizations, but the emotion is permanently present.
Of the two actors who play Sergiu Celibidache, I preferred Ben Schnetzer – handsome, passionate and expressive in the role of the musician between ages 20 and 55. With all due respect to John Malkovich, I think that his role in this film is not one of his best and his acting seemed one-dimensional to me. The rest of the cast is well selected and led with a sure hand. The reconstruction of the various historical periods and geographically dispersed locations where Celibidache lived and worked is done carefully and the results are credible. The stronger parts of the script are exactly those that risk being of less interest to viewers who do not know the details or who do not vibrate with the music or the feelings displayed on the screen. The issue of exile, increasingly present in recent Romanian films, is here exposed from the perspective of a great artist, but the moving scenes of the return risk going unnoticed by less involved viewers. It is precisely the two father-son relationships, located at opposite behavioral poles, that have the potential for universality that will attract more viewers. And finally, the music. Appearing on the screen, if I counted correctly, are six great orchestras, which Celibidache conducted at different periods of his career. Six contemporary Romanian orchestras play the ‘roles’ of these orchestras and do so with authenticity and nuance. As in the case of many cinematic biographies of musicians, the music raises the artistic and emotional level. Despite some simplifications and clichées that have not been completely avoided, ‘The Yellow Tie‘ also holds its own cinematically, not just musically. In Romania, the echo is strong and deserved (including healthy controversies). Perhaps it would have been even stronger if the scenes that take place in Romania had been spoken in Romanian. Let’s see how the international film market will react.