Copying Beethoven (2006)

Director:

Agnieszka Holland

Writers (WGA):

Stephen J. Rivele (written by) &
Christopher Wilkinson (written by)

Release Date:

19 octubre 2006 (Israel)

Genre:

Drama | History | Music | Romance

Frase comercial:

The passion behind the genius

Plot:

A fictionalized account of the last year of Beethoven's life.

Plot Keywords:

String Quartet | Mother Superior | Student | Nephew | God

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Comentarios de los usuarios:

Fine film about music, with a superb Ed Harris performance

Cast

Diane Kruger	...	Anna Holtz
Ralph Riach	...	Wenzel Schlemmer
Matyelok Gibbs	...	Old Woman
Ed Harris	...	Ludwig van Beethoven
Bill Stewart	...	Rudy
Angus Barnett	...	Krenski
Viktoria Dihen	...	Magda
Phyllida Law	...	Mother Canisius
Matthew Goode	...	Martin Bauer
Gábor Bohus	...	Schuppanzigh
Joe Anderson	...	Karl van Beethoven
David Kennedy	...	Neighbor
Nicholas Jones	...	Archduke Rudolph
László Áron	...	Judge
listado alfabético del resto del reparto:
Karl Johnson	...	Stefan Holtz
George Mendel	...	Doctor (as Gyorgy Mendel)

También conocida como:

Klang der Stille (Germany)
Pasión de Beethoven, La (Argentina) [es]

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some sexual elements.

Duración:

104 min

País:

USA | Germany | Hungary

Idioma:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sonido:

Dolby Digital

Clasificación:

Australia:PG | Ireland:12A | Netherlands:6 | Brazil:10 | South Korea:12 | Portugal:M/12 | Germany:6 | Singapore:PG | Hong Kong:IIA | UK:12A | Argentina:Atp | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Budapest, Hungary

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivialidades:

In an interview with The Guardian on August 11, 2007, Ed Harris stated that his biggest disappointment has been "The distribution of Copying Beethoven in the US." He also claimed the most important lesson life has taught him is "Don't let MGM distribute a film you care about."

Goofs:

Factual errors: The movie is set in 1824 during the composition of Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Throughout the movie Beethoven is shown to be hard of hearing but quite capable of understanding people who speak loudly. In reality, Beethoven had totally lost his hearing seven years earlier (1817). The 9th Symphony was composed while he was completely deaf.

Quotes:

Ludwig van Beethoven: An artist is someone who has learnt to trust in himself!

Fine film about music, with a superb Ed Harris performance

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.