Copying Beethoven

There are many things to be said in favor of director Agnieszka Holland's ('Europa, Europa', 'Total Eclipse', 'The Secret Garden', 'Olivier, Olivier') COPYING BEETHOVEN as written from fragments of questionable truths about the composer's final years by Stephen J. Rivele and Christopher Wilkinson: the film is gorgeous to look at for all its candlelit sepia scenes and of course a pleasure to hear as the musical score is primarily excerpts of Beethoven's music, and for the towering performance of Ed Harris as the deaf, dirty, cruel, grumpy, gross Ludwig van Beethoven. There have been sufficient biographies of the master to set the facts straight and this particular viewer has no problem at all with the tinkering of truth in creating a cinematic story that might help to explain the idiosyncrasies of the old master composers. It is a movie to enjoy: it is not a true story for all its attempts to recreate the life of the composer.

In COPYING BEETHOVEN the premise is that the 'hard of hearing' Beethoven needs a copyist to help him complete his Symphony No. 9 due to a premiere of the work in four days time. Wenzel Schlemmer (Ralph Riach), Beethoven's usual copyist, is dying of cancer and arranges for the best pupil at the academy to assist Beethoven. That pupil happens to be a female, one Anna Holtz (Diane Kruger), who arrives at Beethoven's filthy apartment and struggles to convince the composer that she is worthy of the task. Anna is in love with a bridge builder Martin Bauer (Matthew Goode) and finds herself devoting her mind and attention to Beethoven rather than to Martin. Beethoven has never married and instead is in love with his nephew Karl (Joe Anderson) who refuses to follow his uncle's footsteps and instead mistreats him by constantly begging/stealing money form him to pay his gambling debts. So with this cast of characters Beethoven proceeds to complete his now famous 9th Symphony with Anna's help. Beethoven is to conduct the premiere but must depend on Anna (substituting for the errant Karl) to sit in the orchestra and give him cues. The performance is of course greeted with rapture, but Beethoven knows his output is not finished and the remainder of the film deals with his struggle to write the Grosse Fugue for his final string quartet, a piece the public (including Anna) loathes but one that Beethoven recognizes as the bridge to the next advance in music writing. Reduced to self pity, Beethoven dies, but Anna is going to carry the torch for her hero...

The problems with watching COPYING BEETHOVEN that will make those who know the facts of the composer's life stumble are many: Beethoven was completely deaf in his latter years, unable to hear his music much less conversations with people; Beethoven did not conduct the premiere of his 9th Symphony but instead sat deafly in the orchestra not even able to hear the score at which he stared; the gentility with which Ed Harris' Beethoven shows is in sharp contrast to the rascally and despicable behavior of the real man. But those facts don't lend themselves to a good story for cinema and the writers and director were wise to realize this. So forgive the straying from the truth and settle back for a very entertaining if factually irresponsible 'biography'. The musical portions of the film are so truncated that the music suffers, but that matters little to the impression Beethoven's 9th, even in soundbites, has on audiences. If for no other reason, see this film for the bravura performance by Ed Harris. Grady Harp

This is a colorful, enchanting though superficial fictional semi-biography of Ludwig Van Beethoven (Ed Harris) kissed with genius. His last days are brought to life in this entertaining drama musical . This 104 minutes film gives you a splendid idea of the most famous classical music composer .The picture concerns about the tempestuous relationship between a young girl (Diane Kruger) who works as copyist and the excellent musician. A number of factual liberties are taken is this imaginative screen-biography of the history's great composer but it doesn't matter because is also based on real events, as his problematic relation submerged by dramatics with his nephew Karl Van Beethoven(Joe Anderson). Not too bad as biopic go, but musical talent and Ed Harris interpretation is definitely the star in this production. Beethoven's music is the highlight of the film as when he directs the orchestra amid the strains of symphonies 5,7 9,¨Ode to joy¨ and she helps him .

It's a stunning film full of superb music, literate, wit and an immensely dramatic fire. The picture contains some striking visual images ,lavish setting, terrific period piece with realistic scenario for the XIX century filmed on ___location in Budapest,Hungary, besides nifty brilliant costumes. Ed Harris delivers a convincing portrayal, sometimes a little bit exaggerated, of the popular composer whose music is become immortal. Ed Harris(nominated for Academy Award by ¨Pollock¨) acting is magnificent, he expresses musical genius and a first class finger-matching and musical conductor of Beethoven's music has a glorious sweep. The German actress Diane Kruger(Troy,National treasure) is beautiful and gorgeous, she is resolute but vulnerable in the role as copyist and admirer of the greatest composer she has ever heard. The Academy of Ancient Music Orchestra and soloists contributed to the splendid soundtrack. Atmospheric and glimmer cinematography by Ashley Rowe is simply stunning. The motion picture is well directed by Agnieszka Holland. Devotees of the music will appeal this film which is a fine tribute to the master.

For those of you who have trashed this film with comments about the music not being accurate for the times or there was no such thing as a female copyist,etc, can't you go along with the fact that it's a fantasy? I saw it at a screening last night, and I thoroughly enjoyed it...for what it is, a made-up story to give us some insight into what might have been in Bethoven's mind toward the end of his life. I felt it did just that. It is well acted, directed, and the screenplay is very inventive. I certainly can't speak for the director, Ms. Holland, but while watching this film, I had the sense that she strongly wanted me, as the viewer, to feel a certain way so that I could get into the heart of what she was portraying. It worked, because several times I was totally drawn into the scenes and forgot I was in the theater. That's a big cue for me that it's a good film. Go see it, and decide for yourself.

Actually the film has much less similarities to Forman's masterpiece than expected from a biopic on a great composer. At the moment there's only two comments on it, meaning it hasn't have a wide American release yet. Whoever thinks the audiences can't enjoy the dynamics of two people in a cluttered Dostoevskian room is deeply wrong.

Anyway, just got back from the first screening in Jerusalem. Ed Harris is very convincing as Ludwig Van, and the whole film is paradoxically reminiscent of A Clockwork Orange, with its use of Beethoven's Ninth throughout the score. Another film we're reminded of is Girl with a Pearl Earring - the relationship between the artist and the female protagonist is quite similar at the beginning to what is shown there. Finally, "Copying Beethoven" is directed by a woman, for whom it must have been important to tell a story of a woman's status in a world of Arts dominated by men, especially at those times. A bit boring towards the ending, it's nevertheless captivating.

As a professional musician I'm tired of seeing movies that claim to depict the lives of musicians, but just don't "get" it. This one, with all its poetic excesses and liberties taken with the "real" story, does "get" it, and more. The writing has some good scenes, the acting for the most part is good. The scenes of music being written and made are quite true to the reality of the doing. In certain ways adding a fictional character to heighten the story weakens the integrity of the film, especially as the film clearly depicts Beethoven's unrequited love for his nephew Karl. Beethoven's real copyists at this point in his life were men. So what was the point of turning them into a young woman, except to sell the picture and make a political statement?

But no matter. The picture has its moments of real beauty visually and emotionally. It captures the look and sound of a world lit only by daylight, candles and firelight, and in which the loudest sounds heard are those of church bells, added by the sound designer at very telling points in the story.

But the strongest thing about the film is the performance of Ed Harris. This is an amazing theater artist. He totally inhabits the character as written, with no tricks, no Method-izing, no self-conscious showing off, as do his contemporaries, DeNiro and Pacino. He totally disappears into the character, and unlike the actors I mentioned, is totally different in each role, in appearance and in voice. It's done so simply, too, without any extra attention-grabbing flourishes. As I've said elsewhere, his work reminds me most of classic film actors like Tracy, Fonda and Stewart in that respect.

I was astounded by the way he acted the role of a musician, which was incredibly accurate, in ways I would expect from this actor, but still it surprised me. The only other performance on film that I've seen which equals it in this respect is that of Claude Rains in the 1946 melodrama "Deception". But then, Harris' father was a musician, singing in the most famous small chorus of his time, Fred Waring's "Pennsylvanians". So Ed Harris grew up around musicians, accounting for his accurate portrayal and his singing voice.

So do see this film, for the music of course, but also for Ed Harris' riveting performance.