I know that Immortal Beloved has been compared to Amadeus, and here I am going to keep my comparison brief, personally I don't think Immortal Beloved is quite as good as Amadeus, but I love both films with a passion. Ludwig Van Beethoven is my all time favourite classical music composer, and having watched Eroica with Ian Hart and the 3-part BBC dramatisation of Beethoven with Paul Rhys, I wanted to see what this film was like. My conclusion is that Immortal Beloved is a visually audacious, musically majestic and imaginative near-masterpiece.
Immortal Beloved certainly looks stunning. The scenery is gorgeous, the costumes sumptuous and the cinematography fluid and beautiful. Seriously when you are transported to 18th century Vienna you feel like you have just come out of a time machine. There are also many effective scenes such as young Ludwig running away from his abusive father, Johanna visiting Beethoven as he lies dying in bed (one of the few times when a piece of classical music-the String Quartet Op.130 here- reduced me to tears in just one scene of one film), Beethoven resting his ear while playing the Moonlight Sonata, Beethoven with his back to the audience during the performance of the Choral Symphony and the performance of the Emperor concerto(I did read somewhere that during a concert when the orchestra wouldn't play the piece right, Beethoven stopped it and ordered for it to be played again). Even the use of Missa Solemnis was beautifully done, so hauntingly beautiful.
The music is a revelation, pretty much the heart and soul of the film. It is a true delight from start to finish, I loved hearing the Moonlight and Pathetique sonatas, the Choral Symphony(the Ode to Joy movement has always been my favourite work of his), the Emperor Concerto,the violin concerto, Missa Solemnis and the 2nd movement of the 7th symphony as it was performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Georg Solti.
Bernard Rose is an unusual choice for director, having directed the gruesome horror film Caddyshack, but he does respectably as he seeks to identify the "immortal beloved" of Beethoven's will(to this day we don't know who Beethoven is referring to). The scripting is intelligent and moving, one might say it doesn't say much, but it has heart, and the story is solid, deep and doesn't meander.
The acting is uniformly excellent. Jeroen Krabbe is fine as Anton Schindler, and Isabella Rosselini, Johanna ter Steege and Valeria Golino look beautiful and act very convincingly as the suspects of Beethoven's affections. I have to say though Gary Oldman does give the best performance of the film, while some scenes could have done with a touch more moderato it was a superb, charismatic and moving performance. I have read complaints that Oldman overacted, complaints I don't agree with at all. Just because Beethoven shouts a lot here, doesn't mean Oldman was overacting, and he certainly didn't overact in the final scene between him and Johanna, his acting was a masterclass of sheer poignancy there. Beethoven wasn't exactly a knight in shining armour now was he? He was rude, aggressive and reacted vehemently to even the smallest thing and probably traumatised by the memories of being abused by his alcoholic father. Beethoven also encountered alcoholism and increasing deafness, and by 1812 or so he was deaf completely.
Overall, this is a wonderful, underrated film. Only problem with it? I did feel the ending was a little too open-and-shut, but maybe it is just me. I cannot deny though that this is a great film. 9.5/10 Bethany Cox
Immortal Beloved certainly looks stunning. The scenery is gorgeous, the costumes sumptuous and the cinematography fluid and beautiful. Seriously when you are transported to 18th century Vienna you feel like you have just come out of a time machine. There are also many effective scenes such as young Ludwig running away from his abusive father, Johanna visiting Beethoven as he lies dying in bed (one of the few times when a piece of classical music-the String Quartet Op.130 here- reduced me to tears in just one scene of one film), Beethoven resting his ear while playing the Moonlight Sonata, Beethoven with his back to the audience during the performance of the Choral Symphony and the performance of the Emperor concerto(I did read somewhere that during a concert when the orchestra wouldn't play the piece right, Beethoven stopped it and ordered for it to be played again). Even the use of Missa Solemnis was beautifully done, so hauntingly beautiful.
The music is a revelation, pretty much the heart and soul of the film. It is a true delight from start to finish, I loved hearing the Moonlight and Pathetique sonatas, the Choral Symphony(the Ode to Joy movement has always been my favourite work of his), the Emperor Concerto,the violin concerto, Missa Solemnis and the 2nd movement of the 7th symphony as it was performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Georg Solti.
Bernard Rose is an unusual choice for director, having directed the gruesome horror film Caddyshack, but he does respectably as he seeks to identify the "immortal beloved" of Beethoven's will(to this day we don't know who Beethoven is referring to). The scripting is intelligent and moving, one might say it doesn't say much, but it has heart, and the story is solid, deep and doesn't meander.
The acting is uniformly excellent. Jeroen Krabbe is fine as Anton Schindler, and Isabella Rosselini, Johanna ter Steege and Valeria Golino look beautiful and act very convincingly as the suspects of Beethoven's affections. I have to say though Gary Oldman does give the best performance of the film, while some scenes could have done with a touch more moderato it was a superb, charismatic and moving performance. I have read complaints that Oldman overacted, complaints I don't agree with at all. Just because Beethoven shouts a lot here, doesn't mean Oldman was overacting, and he certainly didn't overact in the final scene between him and Johanna, his acting was a masterclass of sheer poignancy there. Beethoven wasn't exactly a knight in shining armour now was he? He was rude, aggressive and reacted vehemently to even the smallest thing and probably traumatised by the memories of being abused by his alcoholic father. Beethoven also encountered alcoholism and increasing deafness, and by 1812 or so he was deaf completely.
Overall, this is a wonderful, underrated film. Only problem with it? I did feel the ending was a little too open-and-shut, but maybe it is just me. I cannot deny though that this is a great film. 9.5/10 Bethany Cox