Immortal Beloved (1994)

An awkward, ridiculous, pathetic interpretation! Beethoven loved only music and himself. He hated his father. He hated all women and all children because they were mere distractions from his work. The immortal beloved is music. That is the truth. Script 4 Director 4 Actor play 8 Gary Oldman 5 the others subtotal 6.5 Entertainment 7 (6 nice decorations and costumes +1 for scene of Starlight sky) TOTAL 5

People get tied up on whether or not this film portrays the life of Beethoven accurately; this misses the point of the film entirely. This is not so much a film about Beethoven, so much as the way in which he effected those around him, and inspired a devotion among his followers which lives to this day. If you consider a movie like, for instance, 'Shakespeare in Love'--- it's quite apparent to anyone who knows anything about Shakespeare that the film has only the faintest correlation to Shakespeare, which didn't seem to get in the way of people awarding THAT movie, and lauding praise on it, because Shakespeare was played as a hopeless romantic that everyone WANTS to believe in. While Immortal Beloved may share a similarity to S.I.L in it's, shall we say, creative interpretations, Immortal Beloved is a far superior film because it shows Beethoven in all aspects of his humanity. There's Beethoven as a Romantic rock star, there's the tender friend, the arrogant drunken bastard, the possessive misogynist, the pathetic misanthrope, all of it. Gary Oldman's role is superb. It is difficult to imagine anyone else in the role after seeing this movie.The acting is top-notch, albeit a bit melodramatic at points (Beethoven's assistant especially gets a bit heartfelt a bit often). There are a few scenes in this movie which are truly tearjerker moments. The scene in which 'Ode to Joy' is played is predictably great, even though it (like a lot of the film) feels a bit dated now.All in all, a rewarding and thoughtful piece on a man whose life was indeed complicated and monumental.Highly recommended.

After Beethoven died, love letters he had written to his "Immortal Beloved" were discovered. The name of the Immortal Beloved was not included in the letters. That all makes sense.However, in this film what is found is not letters but a will - in which Beethoven leaves his estate to his Immortal Beloved, but does not tell anyone who she is. Does that make sense to anyone? If he really wanted to leave her his estate, wouldn't it have occurred to him that it maybe it might have been a good idea to identify her by name?Are we supposed to think we was an idiot? Are we, perhaps, supposed to think he wrote the will while suffering from dementia? I can't think of any other reason why he would make a bequest to someone he declined to identify.

There is a LOT of mixture of the film's mythology about Beethoven, just as there was between fantasy (often promulgated by Ludwig himself!) and reality.First of all, he was NOT regarded as the "gigantic musical genius" that we think he was today. Next to Mozart...or even Haydn, he was seen as an insufferable boor, a self-obsessed whacko and vain beyond belief, not to mention cruel to anyone and everyone and unhygienic, even for THOSE days! Yes, I used to worship him in college, but that is what college girls DO, until they a) listen to his boring, long-winded string quartets and/or b) travel to SALZBURG, Austria, to see where the real master lived, work and whence he launched his true immortal music into the world.Unlike Beethoven, Mozart never had to "slave" over anything; one of the best parts of the deeply flawed (yet STILL great!) film "Amadeus" was that Mozart really DID write, "as if he was taking dictation" and furthermore, could really, truly conduct a symphony, while writing another in his head! It's just that Salieri never said that.Mozart's only "flaws" were remarkably similar to those of a later, great U.S. President, William Jefferson Clinton: those of the flesh...and let's face i: if you are NOT a Repressed Republican...WHO CARES??! Yes, Beethoven was crude, sexist, and even misogynistic, not to mention conceited. Let's just say that after bathing in the music of BOTH these "Titans" all summer, I came away with Mozart in my soul...and Beethoven between my teeth (As I'm sure he meant it to be!).Let's face it: he NEVER went out of his way to pleas ANYONE (personally--I'm sure he WOULD have if he's been a U.S. president!)...and did Mozart one better in alienating anyone who could have helped him (Mozart at least hung on to a couple of patrons).In my opinion, Beethoven is for GUYS, like Mars. Mozart is for women and more enlightened guys, like Venus (or Dionysus...or for compulsive gamblers!).Wolfi...you were SO right about that dolt, Ludwig! Let's put it to rest with the assessment of a contemporary, the esteemed Franz Joseph Haydn. He told Mozart's FATHER that his son was "the best composer known to him" and that he had "Taste and style". He said very little about poor Ludwig. I'd feel sorry for the jerk if he wasn't such a...well...JERK! (OH...and a lesser musician).