L'élève de 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

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.

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.

there were some confusing aspects to this film which distracted from the potential to enjoy it more. first off, i'd just seen "Immortal Beloved" the week before, and understand that in order to not make "Copying Immortal Beloved" the interpretation of the screenplay had to avoid mimicry. that was OK, to see things through a different sets and props, and draw the relationships from another angle.

but the inclusion of a fictional character to highlight the story of a well-known personage is tough for some fans to accept. there were moments of wonderful emotion and power, but to invest in these scenes while being told a historically-inaccurate story cheapens the feeling.

someone mentioned "Shakespeare in Love" as being inaccurate as well, but fun, and i suppose if that sort of revisionism doesn't bother one, then definitely see this film. it is comedic and doesn't linger too long beyond the story's needs.

for the more discriminating folks, be advised that this film doesn't make use of the standard British-actors-with-German-accents, but British/American/German actors with American (and in some cases, unplaceable) accents. even some words which appear on-screen in Gothic script, that were read aloud, were written in English, something that for me changes the setting in a subtle way.

the story itself was a bit confusing, and enough various ideas were put forth to make me wonder what the film was actually meant to be about. is it a tale of Beethoven's struggle for acceptance and success after a long period of not composing? is it meant to show the strains & events leading up to his passing? was it a study of relationships, in that the people in his life had their own particular opinion & approach to him?

see this film with a mind that it is not meant to be realistic historically (ie. the anachronistically-plucky heroine, for one), but another way to think about a tormented, complex human being who saw himself as divinely-appointed to make some of eternity's most beautiful music.

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.