Immortal Beloved Reviews

''It is the power of music to carry one directly into the mental state of the composer.''

The life and death of the legendary Ludwig van Beethoven.

Gary Oldman: Ludwig van Beethoven

Firstly, everyone knows Beethoven in his childhood was forced live up to the child prodigy Mozart. A nice analogy can be made with this film, this adaptation, this conjuring of his life. Because of the semi-biographical, semi-fictional nature of the story it is impossible not to compare it to Milos Forman's Amadeus. And where Beethoven (in my opinion) surpassed Mozart later in his career, Immortal Beloved does not. I'm not saying that Immortal Beloved attempts to mimic Amadeus, but the comparison is certainly unavoidable.

If, however, we judge Immortal Beloved in it's own right, it comes out quite well. Gary Oldman's performance is spectacular to say the least and carries the story into the heavens.
The story is very well constructed, although it is sometimes buried under by psychological complexity of its character. It seems to want to focus on to many aspects of Beethoven's personality, life, and surroundings all at once. A little more simplicity might have served the story more believability. The plot, though historically inaccurate in places, has enough impact to satisfy all the mystery and questions that arise in the web of storytelling. And though it very probably didn't happen that way, it serves very well to explain Beethoven's psychological problem, and, in all fairness cast this into legend rather than mythical proportions.

''You think that because I do not stop you, that I am not listening.''

So if all this is so right, what's wrong with it? The flaws of Immortal Beloved, I feel, stem mostly in the often unjustly ignored facets of mixed cinematography. The composition though never irritating, also never over come our senses. The same goes for the colours, they are always good, but are never a reflection of the emotions in the powerful extreme sense. This applies to the editing and use of music as well. And it is in these respects especially that Immortal Beloved does not reach the greatness of the emotion grabbing Amadeus.

All in all a powerhouse of a story with amazing potential. Tons of praise to Gary Oldman in one of the best performances of his career. The movie is very well researched in places and epic in it's own ambition. That these ambitions aren't completely fulfilled is an immortal tragedy.

For those who are interested what parts of the movie are historically correct (which one tends to wonder when watching a biopic like this), all major characters are correct, as are the basic relations between them. the letter around which the story revolves actually exists, and most anecdotes truly happened in some shape or form. Historians and music scholars alike are still baffled about the identity of the immortal beloved...thus mirroring the mixed opinions of this adaptation, but certainly there is no doubt in my mind, Gary Oldman gives a performance worthy of repeated viewing alone, saving Immortal Beloved from disaster.

''The comedy is over.''

This biopic about Ludwig van Beethoven presents the composer as an insufferable asshole, paranoid and vindictive to the extreme. The film would ask us to forgive the man due to his immense talent and his having had a rough life (an abusive childhood and, of course, deafness during early adulthood), but I was left cold.

The film begins with Beethoven's death amid a dark and stormy night, with the opening notes of his Fifth Symphony (perhaps the most recognizable 4 notes in all of music) signalling his demise. Most of the rest of the film is told in flashback, with the plot revolving around the mysterious identity of Beethoven's "immortal beloved" to whom he willed his estate.

In fact, the best part of the film is its soundtrack, made up entirely of bits and pieces of Beethoven's music. One scene near the end, in particular, set to the fourth movement of Beethoven's 9th Symphony (the "Ode to Joy"), stands out in its intensity, both visual and aural. That scene alone makes the film worth seeing, in my opinion, but without it I'd have a hard time recommending the movie.

Gary Oldman is, as always, fantastic, but his Beethoven is a man almost impossible to sympathize with as he goes through life perpetrating one indignity after another on everyone around him.