—it’s hard to imagine anyone feeling shut out by this music. Bernstein had a flair for inclusivity. He was also charming as hell, and as Cooper plays him, it’s little wonder that he attracted attention from members of both sexes.
But his first meeting with the Chilean-born actor Felicia Montealegre sets off a particularly mighty spark. The two fall deeply in love, and though Felicia hints discreetly that she knows all about Leonard’s “other” life, they vow to make some sort of union work. Before they know it, they’ve got two children—eventually three—and both have achieved the career success they’ve dreamed of, though Leonard’s star will shine brighter and longer.
Their loyalty is intense. But loyalty isn’t the same as fidelity, an idea Cooper explores fearlessly. Early in their courtship, Leonard introduces Felicia to the clarinetist he’s been sleeping with, played by Matt Bomer, not bothering to hide his newfound hetero-exultation. His abandoned love greets Felicia warmly, as if welcoming her into a family, the family of people who love Lenny. Yet the flicker of sadness that crosses Bomer’s face could be a novel unto itself.
It’s a moment of intense callousness played out with the lightness of an operetta. Cooper is happy to explore Leonard’s charm, but he finds the heartlessness in this character too: at times his eyes look like small, steely pin-dots, focused only on his own goals and desires. Those include wanting a family, and the scenes of the Bernsteins’ at-home life, much of it set in a grand-yet-welcoming Connecticut house, make it clear how much this self-absorbed, driven man truly loved his kids.
doesn't soft-pedal the marital tension between Leonard and Felicia. At one point, some ten years into the marriage, Felicia watches as her husband seduces a handsome swain at one of the couple’s lavish parties in their upper-West Side flat—she’s more exasperated than hurt, but either way, Mulligan lets us see that the concessions Felicia has made for the sake of her marriage are wearing her down. A few years later, she gives up entirely on making it work.