Immortal Beloved

Immortal Beloved

I can't believe I missed this gem at the movies, Oldman is just brilliant, his sheer charisma and presence in some scenes take the attention immediately and unfairly from others without him uttering a word first. The only fault I could find with this beautifully directed movie, was not enough of Beethovens music, the only time we really get to hear it fully is the wonderful scene at the end with his ninth symphony. The scene as well of a young Beethoven fleeing from his drunken father, and then floating in the pool of stars as the choral part of the symphony erupts, bought me to tears and will remain with me forever. The movie is incredible and the Academy awards should collectively hang their heads in shame for being so dull not to see this movie as worthy of even being nominated due to its silly rules, or for never recognising Oldman then or since for the wonderful and great English actor that he truly is.

If was a director, I would be sure to look at such films as "Kafka", "Quiz Show", and "Immortal Beloved"(and many many others) and hope that my film would have as much style and taste as these films, particularly "Immortal Beloved." From the first time I saw it, "Immortal Beloved" became one of my all-time favorite movies. For one thing, I love the cast. Director Bernard Rose has filled his movie with such top-notch European actors as Johanna Ter Steege, Valeria Golino, Marco Hofschnieder, Miriam Margoyles, Isabella Rossellini, and particularly in the choosing of his two leads--Jeroen Krabbe(my favorite actor) and Gary Oldman. I have seen and enjoyed all of these actors in one or more other project, and to have them ALL together is just wonderful. Plus the director genius, Bernard Rose, also wrote a great script:the flashback sequences give us a great look upon Beethoven, and they very carefully fit around the search that Beethoven's secretary embarks upon to find the mysterious woman, the "Immortal Beloved", whom Beethoven left his entire estate and music to in a letter. I like how he narrows he is able to narrow his search to just three women, after finding a nearly illegible signature the woman left behind at a hotel("is that a G or a J?" Schindler wonders. "Looks like an A to me," he is told by the hotel worker). I like being able to learn the impact Beethoven left upon all three, and the accounts of Schindler and his nephew provide some great insite as well. I love the chemistry between all cast members, particularly Oldman and Krabbe and Krabbe and Rossellinni. Well, I loved absolutely everything about this movie. I can only hope that if I ever made a movie, it would turn out to be as well-written, superbly acted, and as beautifully made as "Immortal Beloved."

Immortal Beloved has a great soundtrack -- hard to do too poorly on that when the subject is Beethoven. It also boasts superior cinematography and costume design. But there are a few problems also. The script is pedestrian and the dialogue pretentious and downright silly at times. The soporific direction sucks all the life out of its players and the audience. And, with the notable exception of Isabella Rossalini who lights up the screen during her all-too-brief appearances, the acting ranges from moribund to ridiculous. Skip the rental and get a Beethoven CD instead. My score: 2 out of 10.

I am sick of this kind of movies that they are based on historical facts but distorting all reality, reforming it just to sell more tickets. The direction and the photography were nothing special. The story was made as cheesy as possible, with the worst title ever thought. The actors, except maybe Rossellini and Oldman, were below the average. There was no original music to create a kind of atmosphere but you could listen all the popular tunes of Beethoven that everyone now should know from their mobile ring tone or from TV advertisements. The function of music worked this way as reference and not to support the image and the plot. In conclusion, Bernard Rose took the advantage of the Great man's Name to make something successful, regardless if it would be of low quality.

I have heard classical music from when I was only 6 and the first I began with was Beethoven's 5th. His music always did to me what is said in this movie (made me feel like the composer) and it's not enough if I say I am a Beethoven fan, better to say I admire, adore and pray him... His works are (in parallel with J.S Bach but in another way) make me feel mad and there are quiet few music that do so to me. With the above description and with the effort I've made to study his life and works, I believe this movie is a disaster. With the huge amount of raw material and stories in his life - which Roman Rolland has written that thick book - it's the strangest thing to use his worst, hard-to-believe and neglectable-to-magnify part of his life. It surely is a crime if we see Beethoven in this way. The movie may be a good one if it was not based on him and it was a fictional story for that I may give 6 stars but because of the crime they've made I had to omit the later 3 stars! Please compare with Milos Forman's Amadeus, is it comparable? actually that one was neither completely satisfying but much better than this. Why? -Gary Oldman is a great actor but not suitable for this role, even as hard as he tries... -All about the 9th symphony was this? it is considered as 'The greatest symphonic composition for all the time' by almost %100 of the experts. It's the best choice for the EU anthem. It's mystical. It's beyond the imagination and it's written when he was completely deaf! It's - as he has quoted - his greatest piece of work. It's not just an 'Excuse me' letter for his love. Please notify. -Hostorical references are most of the time incorrect or incomplete. he has hearing problems from his middle 30's but totally deaf in his last ten years. He used to put his head on the piano much later than it is shown. The famous statue which we all have seen for once is made from his face just right after his death so why he is so old and ugly in the ending? and so on.... However, I do not think it's fair to do this with one of the greatest -if not the greatest - composers in history. Don't you think so?

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.

Not at all convinced. Why? Because this movie has numerous historical inaccuracies aka no chronological order: Ludwig van Beethoven's (17 December 1770 – 26 March 1827) total deafness occurs far too early, LvB is conducting personally works he actually never did, composing works in the wrong time order, etc. In addition to that, the movie takes too many liberties, to my taste, about the biographical facts, and to imply that that famous love-letter, written by LvB to his 'Immortal Beloved', would be ultimately his sister-in-law is just utterly preposterous. That letter was written and could have been addressed to several very well known ladies, we meet some of them during the movie, nevertheless no absolute certainty was proved until today. But it's most certainly not his sister-in-law, with whom he had so many conflicts and legal battles over years. The idea that LvB composed the 9th for his sister- in-law as a-forgive-me-for-making-your-life-a-hell is the director's personal fabrication and so is the feeble ending. Also, there is much more to LvB than his 5th, 9th and the Pathetique and it's a shame that even these were cut into bits and pieces and added here and there without any musicality to the frames, but rather as background music. There is short scene when a white pianist is accompanied by a black violinist playing the Kreutzer Sonata; it did ring a bell but I had to look it up. The 'mulatto' violinist was supposed to be George Bridgetower (11 October 1778–29 February 1860) an Afro-Polish-born virtuoso who had a quite tempestuous professional relationship with LvB. Such a shame that this was not more elaborately depicted in the movie. That could have been a great instructive scene. LvB is quite distorted here and even the great actor Gary Oldman can't save his dignity nor the voluptuous and expensive production. Actually Mr Oldman is over the top but I blame it on the pathetic direction. Watchable for the young, but not very instructive. p.s. Hearing the gorgeous Isabella Rossellini speak a couple of sentences in Hungarian made me smile :-)

Filled with inaccurate information, not least of which Beethoven's deafness was first, not a secret to anyone, and second, did not occur nearly as early as the film indicates. Certainly not by the time of the third symphony. The music is very good. The film is confusing, unbelievable, and in many cases, just plain silly.

Handsome, expensive, largely well-acted, and utterly stupid; chaotic history, a grotesque and impossible "solution" to the well-worn enigma of the "Immortal Beloved." The composer is shown performing the Emperor Concerto (which he never did, having by then acknowledged his deafness) at least seven years before its composition, and composing the F Major Quartet (finished, October 1826) on his deathbed (March, 1827) -- I mention these as merely symptomatic of the general fecklessness.