Monday, April 27, 2020

The Stories about Music Films: 5. Immortal Beloved (1994)


Basic Info

Title: Immortal Beloved
Genre: Romance/Melodrama
Country: United Kingdom, United States
Language: English, Hungarian
Production Company: Icon Productions
Distributed by: Columbia Pictures
Running time: 121 minutes
Release date: December 16, 1994

Staff

Director: Bernard Rose
Producer: Stephen McEveety, Bruce Davey
Written by: Bernard Rose
Music: George Fenton, Ludwig van Beethoven, Gioacchino Rossini
Cinematography: Peter Suschitzky
Editor: Dan Rae

Cast

Gary Oldman (Ludwig van Beethoven)
Jeroen Krabbé (Anton Felix Schindler)
Isabella Rossellini (Anna-Marie Erdödy)
Johanna ter Steege (Johanna Reiss)
Christopher Fulford (Kaspar van Beethoven)
Marco Hofschneider (Karl van Beethoven)
Barry Humphries (Clemens Metternich)
Valeria Golino (Giulietta Guicciardi)
Geno Lechner (Josephine von Brunsvik)
Claudia Solti (Theresa von Brunsvik)

Summary


Immortal Beloved” is a 1994 film about the life of composer Ludwig van Beethoven. After Beethoven's death in 1827, three letters were found in his private documents addressed to a woman whom he called "immortal beloved". The film follows Beethoven's secretary and first biographer Anton Schindler, who tries to find the true identity of "Immortal Beloved". Schindler travels throughout the Austria, interviewing women who might be potential candidates.

Written in the summer of 1812 in the spa town of Teplice, the letter has generated a lot of speculation and controversy for her identity among scholars and writers. Among the candidates are Giulietta Guicciardi, Thérèse von Brunswick, Josephine Brunsvik, Antonie Brentano, and Anna-Marie Erdödy, some of whom are appeared in the film.

The film's writer and director, Bernard Rose, though not a historian, claimed that he had identified Beethoven's Immortal Beloved as his sister-in-law Johanna van Beethoven. The film also suggests that Beethoven's nephew Karl is actually the son of Beethoven and Johanna.

Movie Review


“Yet Another Mis-Interpreted Wonderful Film...”
“Oldman Brings Beethoven to Life”
“Underrated masterpiece”
“Mysterious Beethoven biopic”
“Immortal Beethoven”
“Absolutely lovely”
“A Most Beautiful, and Under-rated Film”
“Stunning, Brilliant”
“Great Soundtrack and Cinematography”

Interesting stories about the film


1. Gary Oldman actually played himself all of Beethoven's works in the film. However, in the official soundtrack, a different musician played. Oldman spent six weeks practicing the piano at the hotel for six hours a day when he learned that he was going to play Beethoven, and was completely immersed in his music as a study of Beethoven.
2. Schindler was Beethoven's secretary for a while, but not his friend.
3. Gary Oldman appeared in the movie "Léon (1994)", acting a character obsessed with Beethoven.
4. The words that Beethoven spoke to Schindler during their first meeting in the rehearsal of Kreutzer Sonata were taken from Tolstoy's novel "The Kreutzer Sonata."
5. Beethoven was described as a misogynist because he had very few intimate relationships with women in real life.
6. While filming the funeral scene, the weather was so hot that some extras fainted.
7. Anthony Hopkins was the original choice to play Beethoven.
8. Gary Oldman didn’t say anything for the first 20 minutes of the film.

Thank you.




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