Copying Beethoven

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.

And parts of it I loved. The casting of Ed Harris in the role of Beethoven was a stroke of genius in itself and like Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ed inhabits every role he's in, extraordinary actors both, without mannerisms or methodisms. He just is. It is a serious misfortune that the script fell far short of his talent.

Diane Kruger for the most part is luminous and believable, I don't know if the picture was filmed sequentially, but in the beginning she appears to be struggling to find her feet, to roll herself into the part, and after a few wobbles, she eventually does.

The interpretation of the Ninth is sublime on many levels, the main one being the absolute sensuousness of Anna Holtz (played by Diane) guiding the maestro through the conducting of the Ninth at its debut. Right up there with memorable movie moments.

The main difficulties I had were with the depiction of Beethoven's hearing (he was totally deaf when he wrote the sublime Ninth) and with the anachronistic dialogue which had me "ouching" far too much. Using terms like "mooning", Beethoven himself no less christening his own Moonlight Sonata - spare us, American accents slopping around, a single woman completely chaperonless running freely around Vienna and on and of course the passionate kissing scenes with her kinda-fiancé, I think not.

As to the "Wash Me" scene, I got it (I think). He was composing in synch to her washing motions. More could have been made of it.

I understand why the director, Agnieszka Holland, would develop the story to highlight and Mozartize Beethoven, but I would have to say the experiment was a failure.

Evocative lighting but a sad little script which seriously under estimated this viewer's intelligence and I believe I'm not alone. 7 out of 10 for the bits that worked.

For a lovely little movie depicting the just about demented from deafness Beethoven composing his Ninth, see the delightful "Beethoven Lives Upstairs."

Greetings again from the darkness. Films on icons and historical figures are always risky. Either the greatness (or evil) is exaggerated or the dramatization leaves us feeling empty. Director Agnieszka Holland ("Europa, Europa") attempts to capture the ego and genius of "the monster" Ludwig Von Beethoven in a dramatized version of his last year.

The beautiful Diane Kruger (wonderful in "Joyeux Noel", and also in "National Treasure") plays Anna Holtz, the copier/transcriber for Beethoven's famous 9th symphony as well as his final quartets. It does have similarities to Beauty and the Beast, but the film falls short in capturing his genius. All we get for an explanation is Beethoven's shouts of "God speaks to everyone, but he screams in my ear".

Ed Harris, continuing his knack for playing the crazed artist ("Pollack" "Winter Passing") does an admirable job in heavy make-up and wig attempting to show us the constant torture of the musical genius, who is so clueless on how to deal with the little people.

Harris and Kruger do fine work in their many scenes together, but the film never truly captures the greatness or genius of the artist. The closest it comes is the wonderful version of the 9th as we see Beethoven and Anna working closely (very sensually) to pull off the first public performance. Instead Ms. Holland keep it in the form of a small film, which is not altogether a bad thing.

I enjoyed "Copying Beethoven" for different reasons than I enjoyed "Eroica" (the Ninth was the focus of practically every moment) and "Immortal Beloved" (the conflict between the composer's passion for creating music and his human need to be connected to others). For me, the focus of "Copying Beethoven" combined these two themes into a much more personal one, and dramatized the Maestro's need to communicate a comprehensive knowledge -- intellectual, emotional, spiritual -- of his art to this young copyist who was so intimate with his work. For if not her, than who?

While the musical performances were truncated out of necessity -- the success of the film, "Eroica", is due primarily to the performance of the Third Symphony in its entirety -- the actors' performances in "Copying Beethoven" reveal aspects of Beethoven not explored in the other two films. Beethoven is always portrayed as a "cranky genius", but Harris' Beethoven is so human -- impulsive and brutish, then reflective and apologetic, then insensitive and crude, then regretful and humble -- someone trying not to make the same mistakes over again. The relation he develops with the copyist realistically (and thankfully) does not influence his music, but it does cause his character to focus on his humanity, and I so enjoyed hearing this Beethoven talk about things like music, musicians, family, and God.

A word about the other performances. Kruger was radiant. The conflict between her respect for the artist and repulsion at his cruelty was wonderfully mixed with her character's own strengths, ambitions, and needs. The supporting characters were also splendid with hilarious and touching moments. The film is full of delightful words and gestures. Whether you have read volumes of history on Beethoven or are only passingly familiar with the Fifth, I recommend you see this lovely film about the humanity that lived within the genius who infused music with life.

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.