The Yellow Tie, a film about conductor Sergiu Celibidache
The Yellow Tie, a film, which hit the cinemas later this year, follows the life and career of conductor Sergiu Celibidache — from his childhood in interwar Romania, through the difficult period of war and famine, to his international acclaim
Christine Leșcu and Corina Sabău, 01.01.2026, 14:00
Pianist, composer and conductor, considered one of the most important musicians of the 20thcentury, Sergiu Celibidache was born in Roman, Neamț County, on June 28, 1912. His father, Demosthenes, of Greek origin, was a cavalry officer. His fascination with the piano began at just four years old — a moment about which Celibidache would later confess: “When I was 4 years old, I would give concerts, like that, without an audience, in an empty attic, without light, with a lot of dust and very cold. I used to thank the audience, although I didn’t know what that really meant.”
After ending his military career, in the mid-1930s he went first to Paris, then to Berlin, to continue his musical studies. In 1945 he was invited to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, and a year later he became a teacher at the International Institute of Music in Berlin. Since 1949, Celibidache has been a guest conductor of prestigious orchestras around the world – in Austria, Italy, France, Central and South America. In 1978 he returned to Romania for a short period of time, where he conducted the “George Enescu” Philharmonic Orchestra in Bucharest. In 1987, on his 75th birthday, he received the Golden Coin of Honor of the city of Munich, followed by the Nettunod’Oro awards in Bologna and the Golden Needle of Honor of the city of Milan.
The main parts of the film have been entrusted to internationally renowned actors such as John Malkovich, Ben Schnetzer, Sean Bean, Miranda Richardson and Kate Phillips. The production is considered one of the most ambitious in recent Romanian cinema, with a budget of around 20 million euros, filming in numerous locations and a team that worked for over seven years on the film.
While many viewers appreciate The Yellow Tie for its accessible story, built in a way that will reach a wide audience, even those unfamiliar with classical music, some critics consider the film — although grandiose in production — to be too schematic, with artificial dialogues and inconsistent characters. The film is directed by Serge Ioan Celibidache, the conductor’s son, who also wrote the screenplay with James Olivier. Serge Ioan Celibidache spoke to us about how he constructed the screenplay.
Serge Ioan Celibidache: “That was perhaps the biggest challenge, in the sense that we had a lot of notes and we had to fit it into two hours and 15 minutes to get the essence out. We have three main characters and we enter each one’s world, so it was important to respect the three-act structure and cut out everything that was not directly related to the story. It was also difficult to find a balance between not becoming overly intellectual, which we didn’t want, but also not to seem superficial, because the story emphasizes some moments that I would say have a philosophical charge. That’s why we made a very careful and rigorous selection of the moments that make up the story and it took a very long time to get to this draft, we’re talking about years.”
We also spoke with Serge Ioan Celibidache about the role played by John Malkovich, who has an important contribution to the film, playing the conductor Sergiu Celibidache in adulthood.
Serge Ioan Celibidache:“We chose John Malkovich because he’s a cultural reference for everyone, and that’s what we wanted from the beginning, to create a believable character. Furthermore, John Malkovich can naturally go from calm to unpredictable outbursts when something unpleasant comes up. That’s how my dad was — he had a bit of madness, an energy that could explode out of nowhere. Everything goes well until you say the wrong thing and the atmosphere suddenly changes. I felt that John Malkovich can play this side very well, and in the film there are actually two clear moments where the tension builds and you’re almost afraid of his character. It’s important, because it’s about the essence of the character: although he’s generous and has a big heart, there are situations where you don’t want to push him too far. Choosing Malkovich was also extremely constructive for us. He gave us credibility with the financiers, he helped us travel with the film and have international visibility. He was essential in the whole financing process, which, inevitably, the entire production is based upon it.”
“This film encourages you to believe in yourself and your destiny. The most important thing is to dare to dream. It is a spectacular example of determination, of calling on destiny and of pursuing a passion against all obstacles,” says the film’s director, Serge Ioan Celibidache, about The Yellow Tie.
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