Challenging genius: The Yellow Tie tells the dramatic story of Romanian conductor Sergiu Celibidache's rise to fame in a film written & directed by his son

The Yellow Tie - Ben Schnetzer (Sergiu Celibidache) - director: Serge Ioan Celibidache, Oblique Media

The Yellow Tie; Ben Schnetzer, John Malkovich, Kate Phillips, Miranda Richardson, Sean Bean, Olivia Popica, Tamzin Merchant, director: Serge Ioan Celibidach, written by Serge Ioan Celibidachi & James Oliver, producer: James Oliver; Produced by Oblique Media; Icon Film Distribution

With Ben Schnetzer oozing sexual magnetism and self-belief, and John Malkovich in compelling form, The Yellow Tie manages to tell a remarkable classical music-based story in a cinematic fashion. 

There has been a fascination recently for films based on the lives of some of the great post-war conductors, from István Szabó's film based on Ronald Harwood's play about Wilhelm Furtwängler's de-Nazification problems to Bradley Cooper's Maestro based on the life of Leonard Bernstein. The latest of these is The Yellow Tie about the life of the Romanian conductor Sergiu Celibidache which debuted last year in Bucharest (and became the most watched Romanian film of 2026). The Yellow Tie, however, has an intriguing advantage in that the film is directed and co-written by Celibidache's son, Serge Ioan Celibidachi (whose character even appears in the film played by Charlie Rowe).

The Yellow Tie (Romanian: Cravata Galbenă) is released in the UK from 9 October and the film received its UK premiere on Wednesday night (29 September) at the Odeon Luxe at Leicester Square. The film covers almost the whole of Celibidache's life with four actors playing him at different ages - Andrei Isarescu (child), Ewan Horrocks (teenager), Ben Schnetzer (adult), John Malkovich (older). Other cast included Kate Phillips as Celibidache's wife Ioana with Miranda Richardson as the older Ioana, Sean Bean as Celibidache's father, Olivia Popica as Sonia (Celibidache's sister), Tamzin Merchant as Ortancia (with whom he has a youthful liaison in Berlin), Anton Lesser as Martin Steinke (who introduces Celibidache to Zen Buddhism) and Robert Dölle as Heinz Tiessen with whom Celibidache trained in Berlin.

The Yellow Tie - Ben Schnetzer (Sergiu Celibidache), Kate Phillips (Ioana Celibidache) - director: Serge Ioan Celibidache, Oblique Media

Filming was largely in Romania but the film is in English (with a tiny amount of Romanian), though the scenes in Germany use a creditable amount of spoken German.