CINEMA: Copying Beethoven

In 1824 the great composer Ludwig Van Beethoven (Ed Harris) staged something of a comeback in Vienna. Having fallen out of favour with Viennese society he then proceeded to stun everyone with the debut of his Ninth Symphony. This is a highly fictionalised account of that part of his life and introduces the character of Anna (Diane Kruger), an aspiring young composer drafted in to help the ailing Beethoven notate his music.

At first, the driven, bellowing Beethoven (aka The Beast) treats Anna and her musical ambitions with contempt, but his growing deafness and the loneliness it engenders force him to accept her into his life and home.

Although an almost unrecognisable Ed Harris throws his all into playing the towering character of Beethoven, the film itself proves to be rather less than magnificent. The one stand-out scene is the staging of Beethoven’s Ninth, which really is a symphony of light, movement and music and proves to be stirring stuff. The real problem with the movie is the inconsistent tone – it can’t make up its mind whether to be serious or slightly joshing and this uncertainty means the flow of the film falters.

Furthermore, side stories concerning Beethoven’s nephew Karl (Joe Anderson) and Anna’s nascent romance with architect Martin (Matthew Goode) detract from the relationship between Beethoven and Anna. With Budapest standing in for Vienna, the location work is handsome, but overall the film fails to impress. Dee Pilgrim