Those who appreciate the spiritual dimensions of the awesome music of Ludwig von Beethoven will savor many special moments in this drama directed by Agnieszka Holland (The Secret Garden). First and foremost is the ten-minute scene of the great composer directing the premier performance of his majestic Ninth Symphony (the music is a 1996 Decca recording of Bernard Haitnik conducting Amsterdam's famed Royal Concertgebourw Orchestra). The screenplay by Stephen J. Rivele and Christopher Wilkinson contains insights into Beethoven's vision of music as coming from God and the composer serving as "God's secretary." These elements speak to our yearning to know more about this tormented genius who broke all the classical music conventions of the times with his string quartets.
In 1824, 23-year-old Anna Holtz (Diane Kruger) arrives in Vienna. While a student at the musical conservatory, she is recommended for a position with the celebrated musical publisher Wenzel Schlemmer (Ralph Riach), who needs a copyist to do work on Beethoven's upcoming Ninth Symphony. The volatile and cantankerous composer (Ed Harris) lives in a messy apartment by himself and has passed through a bad spot in his career. Anna is stunned by his rude and crude behavior but decides that she will endure it for the sake of what he can teach her. Beethoven tells his beautiful new copyist: "I am a very difficult person but I take comfort that God made me that way."
Anna has a room at a convent and is engaged to Martin Bauer (Matthew Goode), a building engineer who is a great believer in science and technology. While working with Beethoven, she meets his nephew Karl (Joe Anderson), a nervous young man who has little interest in music. The composer mistakenly believes that he is a musical prodigy when all he really wants is cash for his gambling. Anna also spends a brief time with an elderly woman who lives next door to Beethoven and relishes the chance to be the first one in Vienna to hear his latest creations. It takes the copyist a long time to finally show the composer her own music and the response is shattering. Although Beethoven sees himself on a spiritual mission to share God's language with the world, he has not progressed very far in terms of treating people with loving respect. At one point, he confesses to Anna: "Loneliness is my religion."
The 1994 movie Immortal Beloved, directed by Bernard Rose, contains a transfixing sequence of flashbacks to the composer's childhood accompanied by the surging "Ode to Joy." Holland has created an equally amazing who The composer, now completely deaf, is conducting the orchestra while Anna sits in front of his podium, out of view of the audience, with the musical score and shows him the beat. In the process we are swept up in the emotional swell of the process. Anna becomes a collaborator helping the out-of-favor Beethoven to regain his artistic stride. Holland focuses on their faces as they mirror the passion and the power of the music. It is a magical ten minutes that is both visually stunning and soul stirring.
Special DVD features include a featurette "Orchestrating Copying Beethoven," a commentary by director Agnieszka Holland and actor Ed Harris, and deleted scenes.
