| Product: |
Immortal Beloved (DVD) |
| Date: |
28.09.01 (352 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Great Period Drama, Nice twist to a biopic, The Music
Disadvantages: Storyline flags a little in places
Beethoven, as far as small children and a lot of people are concerned is Charles Grodin and a slobbering St Bernard dog.
However, there is a far more famous and gifted person – Ludwig van Beethoven.
Director Bernard Rose titled his Beethoven biopic, Immortal Beloved, a phrase the composer used in his will to describe a mystery woman he had loved and lost and to whom he bequeathed all his worldly goods.
Roses sumptuous reproduction of Beethovens (Gary Oldman) later years is as good a job of a biopic as the movies are going to make. Rose gives the story an unusual twist making it a whoisit ( instead of a whodunit ) film trying to discover the indentity of his Immortal Beloved. This person - much to the dismay of his in laws - will inherit everything he owned. The investigator – Schindler (Jeroen Krabbé ) interviews all the women in Beethovens life – from Issabella Rossilini to Johanna Steege - to try to find the glass slipper so to speak. In the end he discovers ( perhaps ) the identity and the reason why he lost her ( a coach getting stuck in the mud and therefore a late arrival to a rendevous).
In the process Rose creates a film of enormous power, dominated by another towering performance by Oldman and the drama and poignancy of Beethoven’s music. His ability to disappear into what he’s playing is quite amazing to watch. From Sid and Nancy to Leon you always believe he is the character rather than an actor pretending to be the character. You never feel you’re looking at he is just going through the motions. A clue to that is his insistence to miming all the piano playing scenes with complete accuracy taking weeks and weeks of practice to perfect.
Best known at the time for directing the horror film Candyman, Rose has a clear understanding of what his goals are and achieves it with style. His love for the music of Beethoven shines through, as in some scenes is the dominant f
orce behind the visuals on screen. Unusually the story and the drama in the film is the gimmick, and the meat is the music. If he had created a straightforward, he lives, he writes music, he dies film it would in all probability never have made it past the art house movie theatres.
If you are not a fan of Beethovens music before seeing this, there is no way you will not be afterwards. His music is going to come out and grab you from behind and shake you with its passion, subtlety, drama and emotion, it will slap you around the face and bring tears to your eyes. The most memorable sequence is when you see him floating in water with stars reflected from a dark sky and you hear the opening notes of the 9th symphony. Surely, no one with a soul will not be touched. Like no other movie, this is one to be played through a full surround hi fi system. It will increase the experience a thousand fold.
I cannot wait until it is available on DVD to appreciate the soundtrack fully.
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