You know it must be Celi, ‘cause jam don’t shake like that.
Back in 2021, I posted about plans for an unlikely biopic about Romanian maestro Sergiu Celibidache starring John Malkovich. Well, it looks like they went ahead and finished the thing. Written and directed by the conductor’s son, the film is called “The Yellow Tie.” It’s not difficult to understand why they’re not calling it “Celibidache,” as it would have English speakers everywhere struggling to remember the title and then mangling the pronunciation.
The trailer dropped this week. Since it employs music from Georges Enescu’s Romanian Rhapsody No. 1, and since today is Enescu’s birthday, here it is. Movies about musicians are seldom good, but the mere concept of Malkovich as Celibidache is so bonkers, you know I’ve got to see it.
Celibidache, one-time conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, gained notoriety for his uncompromising pursuit of “the transcendent moment,” his exhaustive rehearsals, and his refusal to record.
Of course, the market is flooded with Celibidache recordings, many of them from his years in Munich, but these are all byproducts of actual live concerts. Few of them could be described as pedestrian.
Equally, few would be described as “definitive.” When Celibidache was “on,” he could be like nobody else; but when he was “off” – again, he could be like nobody else.
In 2023, I shared news of Malkovich conducting an orchestra in front of 4000 extras in Bucharest, reenacting a 1989 concert that Celibidache gave in Philadelphia with the Munich Philharmonic. If that’s supposed to be the Academy of Music in the trailer, it will convince no concertgoing Philadelphian.
The film also stars Sean Bean as Celibidache’s father and Miranda Richardson as his wife, Ioana.
Of course, the most perfect title for John Malkovich fans would have been “Being John Malkovich Being Sergiu Celibidache.”
However, “The Yellow Tie” it is. The film is projected to be released this November.
The real Celi conducts Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7
Celi documentary, “The Garden of Celibidache”
Malkovich interviewed on Romanian television
Celibidache has a fever, and the only prescription is more viola!
