Bradley Cooper Smokes On Netflix: Is The Maestro’s Poster Legal?

Released on Netflix on December 20th, Maestro has been critically acclaimed and has thus inherited four nominations at the Golden Globes, three nominations at the Venice Film Festival, and should earn several nominations at the next Oscars.

In the biopic, Bradley Cooper takes to the stage – in his second performance since A Star Is Born – to play conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein, alongside Carey Mulligan as his wife, Felicia Monteallegre, as Cohn Bernstein. Thus, the film portrays a grand love story that united them throughout their lives.

Leonard Bernstein Was a Smoker : So it’s no surprise that he smokes in the movie. That said, are we allowed in France to see him with a cigarette in his hand on the official promotional poster for the movie released by Netflix? This is the question we asked ourselves.

Evin’s Law

In summary, the 1991 Evin Act on Smoking and Alcohol Abuse prohibits, among other things, any direct or indirect tobacco promotion or advertising (except on tobacco shop signs and conditions).

In the film world, the list of posters censored due to Evin’s Law is numerous. Take Pulp Fiction (1994) for example: the American poster of Quentin Tarantino’s iconic film has Uma Thurman holding a cigarette, a cigarette that is deleted in the French poster.

In 2009, the removal of Jacques Tati’s tube from a subway ad caused controversy. After that, it will be the turn of Gainsbourg’s poster (Vie heroique), which will be banned from the RATP metro. In it, we saw Eric Elmosnino blowing smoke from his mouth. However, there is no cigarette in sight: manufacturers have already taken precautions.

Thus, in 2012, a circular was issued stating that Evin’s Law and its case law do not prohibit representation. “Heroes, historical or not, smoke especially when it suits their personality, unless the purpose or effect of that communication is advertising.”

And then Maestro?

Thus, AlloCiné asked Netflix about this topic. Answer: The poster is indeed legal and meets the following Evin Law criteria. First of all, it comes from an advertiser that has no connection with the tobacco industry or distribution and has an exclusively cultural or artistic purpose.

In addition, the featured person is a historical figure, or one whose fame is acknowledged (regarding the disappeared or not) and appears in a work of art that forms an integral part of the advertising promotion of the artistic event.

Finally, since tobacco consumer products represented and used in cultural or artistic works must be inseparable from the image and personality of the person appearing there, which appears to be the case. Leonard BernsteinTherefore, the poster is authorized.

Netflix promises to reduce the amount of cigarettes on screen

In 2019, the Truth Initiative group condemned the representation of tobacco in programs popular with young viewers, a representation that had practically quadrupled in the previous year. At the time, the second season of the series Stranger Things was particularly notable for its 262 cigarettes on screen.

In response to the study, Netflix promised to reduce the representation of cigarettes and e-cigarettes in its future productions – original films and series – intended for young audiences, but also for adults, except “Reasons of historical or factual accuracy” And if it wasn’t “Essential to the artist’s creative vision or if it is part of the character’s definition, historically or culturally”.

Disney and HBO Max go even further

At Disney, we’re stricter: The studio’s no-smoking policy, in place since 2001 for works aimed at younger audiences 13 and under, prohibits characters from smoking cigarettes, pipes or other hookahs on the premises. This directive was extended in 2015 to all of the studio’s universes—namely Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars.

• 25 Disney Characters Who Quit Smoking!

As for HBO Max, the platform decided to deal with cinema monuments in 2022, removing cigarettes from the posters of iconic films in its catalog.

However, the approach was by no means unanimous, especially on Twitter, where internet users did not hesitate to compare the posters before/after. The result was indeed quite strange, as seen in the posters for the westerns John McCabe (1971) and Judge and Outlaw (1972) below.

Too much tobacco in French movies?

In 2021, the League Against Cancer published a survey condemning the valorization of smoking in French films.

“Tobacco is almost everywhere in French films: between 2015 and 2019, 90.7% contain at least one event, object or speech related to tobacco: people smoking, the presence of ashtrays, cigarettes, a character talking about tobacco…“, then condemned the league in an investigation conducted with the Ipsos institute.

He then urged the principals to be vigilant, as tobacco is the leading cause of death in France.

The Maestro is available exclusively on Netflix.