User Reviews

"Maestro" is a delightful "fish out of water" comedy about a young action-loving wannabe actor who succeeds in getting cast by an old brainy director in his bucolic masterpiece. The film is inspired by Nouvelle Vague doyen Eric Rohmer's collaboration with actor Jocelyn Quivrin (who co-wrote the script with Swiss director Léa Fazer) on the film "Les Amours d'Astrée et de Céladon".

"Maestro" plays on the stark contrast between the realities of film production and both our fictional director's conservative methods and our hero's glamorous expectations. But this last one will get a lot more than he bargained for in the end. And I also got more than I expected from this refined but unpretentious comedy, whose style, with its balance of witty dialogue and funny visual gags, reminded me more of Woody Allen's best comedies from the 70s than of Eric Rohmer's work.

I have passed a very nice moment to watch this movie, evocating the life around short budget european"author" movies. The actor direction is nice, Michael Lonsdale is great in the role of a very older director than him. This makes me think to some american comedy like "Serendipity (Un amour à New-York)", but at the "french way (even if the director is Swiss ;) Didn't realize before the end that this was basesd on a real story with Eric Rohmer and Jocelyn Quivrin... Contrary to some Dany Boyle's biopic, this one is fun, and has a very light and fun atmosfer, making real life events like a novel ! I laugh a lot, at unexpected moments,... and would have liked Lonsdale got an award for such a unusual role from his previous movie playlist. I usually don't like Rohmer's movie, but that noveled way of one moment of his life, make me try to look at the real "Celadon" movie and try to find as much humor and fun in that one that I have found in "Maestro".

'Maestro', the 2014 movie by Swiss director Lea Fazer, 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 Fazer 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 Fazer 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.

An authentic charming film about oldness, discover of the other potential, a splendid Michael Lonsdale, remind of an old story and seductive work of Pio Marmai. A pure nice film about low budget movie, about idealism and mistakes, about sexual attraction and learning, about Eric Rohmer and Jocelyn Quivrin and about sparkles of life.