CinemaSerf

Oct 14, 2026

7.0

Sergiu Celibidache was brought up in a Romanian Kingdom where his father (Sean Bean) had high hopes that his son might rise to the office of Prime Minister. He (Ben Schnetzer) had other ideas, though, and after asserting himself finds he is now in Bucharest with nothing but the clothes he is sleeping on a park bench in to his name. Not for the first time in his life, serendipity takes an hand getting him a position playing piano in a bar. That pays the bills and finds him love with "Ortancia" (Tamzin Merchant) until he hears a piece on the radio conducted by the legendary Professor Tiessen (Robert Dölle) which inspires him to send him some examples of his own compositions. Next thing, he is rather precariously situated and studying at the Conservatoire in Berlin with the Nazis marauding around Europe, trying to stay out of harm's way. With the war finally over, the Allies are looking to try to get life back to normal as swiftly as possible and to that end are looking for a new conductor for the Berlin Philharmonic - and that's the start of a turbulent rise to fame and fortune that takes us full circle to the home he (now John Malkovich) shares with wife "Ioana" (Miranda Richardson). Combining some especially composed works with those better established from the likes of Ravel and Dvorak, this is a stylishly crafted look at a the life of a maestro in the purest sense of the word. A man who knows or cares little about compromise when he is young learns little of that skill as he ages and latterly faces challenges in his relationship with his own son "Miki" (Charlie Rowe), and I felt Schnetzer really captured the essence of a man compelled, even if it were self-destructively, to strive for perfection but without sterilising him. He manages to imbue his characterisation with a palpable passion that isn't always likeable but that does resonate well. His life also serves as the basis for a chronology of more general times in Europe as it emerged from the decline of ancient empires through to the rise of communism, and the design of the production and the scoring serves as an excellent accompaniment to this man's own personal search for not always the most tangible of reconciliations. It's well worth a look in a cinema if you can - the music plays such an important part of this story and there's lots of it to enjoy here, even if classical music maybe isn't your thing.