Maestro viewers complain ‘incessant mumbling’ makes dialogue difficult to understand as it becomes the latest film to be criticized for being ‘barely audible’

It has already won many awards and is in the running for four awards at the Golden Globes on Sunday evening.

But Maestro viewers have revealed one downside to the critically acclaimed film: that they couldn’t hear anything from the actors.

The biographical drama film follows the long-term relationship between conductor-composer Leonard Bernstein and actress Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein.

The film was directed by Bradley Cooper, who also plays Leonard, from a screenplay he co-wrote with Josh Singer, and also stars Carey Mulligan as Felicia.

The film has received rave reviews from critics and has been nominated for Best Picture – Drama, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress at the Globes.

The biographical drama film follows the long-term relationship between conductor-composer Leonard Bernstein and actress Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein (Bradley depicted in film)

The film was directed by Bradley Cooper, who also plays Leonard, and stars Carey Mulligan as Felicia (pictured together). It has received rave reviews from critics and has four Golden Globes nominations

But viewers are complaining to X, formerly known as Twitter, that the film is let down by the fact that it is ‘barely audible’ because the actors are constantly ‘mumbling’.

One person wrote: ‘The mumbling maestro… so boring and so hard to hear the conversations when he and his wife talk over each other and his deep mumbling Ugh. Turned off after an hour.’

Another said: ‘I just watched ‘Maestro’ on Netflix. Mixed feelings, but I wish the diction had been clearer – lots of mumbling. The trouble is that the cast and director participate live and are familiar with the script, but we only get one chance at understanding. Good performances from Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan’.

A third joked: “Either I’m going deaf or Maestro was mumbling a lot,” while a fourth echoed: “Cooper was mumbling his dialogue ALL THE TIME.”

Someone else said: ‘TERRIBLE! (1st 30 minute review) I love Bradley Cooper and Matt Bomer, but there was so much mumbling and talking that I couldn’t last the 30 minutes, including 25 minutes where I had to force myself to give it a chance.’

While a sixth agreed, saying: ‘Cooper spent years preparing Maestro? I stopped for 5 minutes before he mumbled and I couldn’t hear it.’

A seventh person wrote: “I had to turn on the subtitles to hear Cooper’s mumbling and finally gave up.”

While another tweeted: “I ultimately found Copper’s Bernstein insufferably annoying in his mumbling,” and a ninth said: “The entire film is mumbling between people.”

But viewers are complaining to X, formerly known as Twitter, that the film is let down by the fact that it is ‘barely audible’ because the actors are constantly ‘mumbling’.

A tenth added: ‘I watched it last night and literally couldn’t understand half of Cooper’s lines; too much mumbling’, while another was angry: ‘Incessant mumbling, poor dialogue. Unwatchable.’

And someone else wrote: ‘I’m twenty minutes into Bradley Cooper’s Maestro and I can’t understand a single damn word that comes out of anyone’s mouth and English is my first language.’

It’s not the only film to be criticized for ‘mumbling’ too much, with several other major films from last year facing the same complaint.

Christopher Nolan has regularly been confronted with this criticism in his career, including for his films Inception and Tenet.

His most recent film, Oppenheimer – which won eight awards at the Globes – has also drawn accusations that the dialogue is intelligible beneath the booming score.

One person wrote: ‘Why was some of the dialogue barely audible to Oppenheimer? In some scenes they were outright mumbling and I had to strain my ears to follow along, including my friend. The mix was great overall, but I’d like to hear what they’re saying too.”

Another echoed: “An hour after Oppenheimer. I am NOT following this movie at all. Everyone is just mumbling???? I can literally only make out about two-thirds of the dialogue.”

And a third added: ‘Watched Oppenheimer today, but man. I couldn’t understand it at all. What exactly is sound mixing? Everyone is mumbling, so it’s hard to hear what people are saying. It really impacted my enjoyment because it seemed pretty good, but I can’t really think about it.”

It’s not the only film to be criticized for ‘mumbling’ too much, with Christopher Nolan facing this criticism regularly throughout his career (pictured on Oppenheimer’s set)

His most recent film, Oppenheimer – which won eight awards at the Globes – has also drawn accusations that the dialogue is intelligible beneath the booming score (Cillian Murphy depicted in film)

One person wrote: ‘Why was some of the dialogue barely audible to Oppenheimer? In some scenes they were outright mumbling and I had to strain my ears to follow along.”

The reason for the noise stems from the fact that Christopher shoots his films with giant Imax cameras, which are not completely soundproof, and refuses to re-record the actors in post-production (on-set photo).

The reason for the noise stems from the fact that Christopher shoots his films with giant Imax cameras, which are not completely soundproof, and refuses to re-record the actors in post-production.

This process is known as ADR, which means extra dialogue recording, and is used in virtually every TV show and movie so that actors’ lines sound clearer.

Another recent film hit by complaints of being difficult to understand was Killers Of The Flower Moon, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

Although the film was critically acclaimed and earned seven Golden Globe nods, people once again accused the actors of mumbling.

One wrote: ‘killers of the flower moon was great but what is it with movies these days and everyone keeps muttering how it took me twice as long to get into the story as it should have been because i could’ I don’t understand anything anyone said’.

With a second echo: ‘killers of the flower moon – so well performed, but god did I need subtitles for the English dialogue, those actors were mumbling’.

Popular TV shows such as Doctor Who, Succession, Vigil and Happy Valley have also faced the same criticism in recent years, prompting viewers to turn to streaming services with subtitles even more than ever.

Another recent film hit by complaints of being difficult to understand was Killers Of The Flower Moon, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio (pictured)

Although the film was critically acclaimed and earned seven Golden Globe nods, people once again accused the actors of mumbling