Synopsis
A fictionalised exploration of Beethoven's life in his final days working on his Ninth Symphony. It is 1824. Beethoven is racing to finish his new symphony. However, it has been years since his last success and he is plagued by deafness, loneliness and personal trauma. A copyist is urgently needed to help the composer. A fictional character is introduced in the form of a young conservatory student and aspiring composer named Anna Holtz. The mercurial Beethoven is skeptical that a woman might become involved in his masterpiece but slowly comes to trust in Anna's assistance and in the end becomes quite fond of her. By the time the piece is performed, her presence in his life is an absolute necessity. Her deep understanding of his work is such that she even corrects mistakes he has made, while her passionate personality opens a door into his private world.
Votre Filmothèque
Cast
- Ed HarrisLudwig van Beethoven
- Diane KrugerAnna Holtz
- Matthew GoodeMartin Bauer
- Phyllida LawMother Canisius
- Ralph RiachWenzel Schlemmer
- Bill StewartRudy
- Angus BarnettKrenski
- Viktoria DihenMagda
- Matyelok GibbsOld Woman
- Karl JohnsonStefan Holtz
Recommandations
- 80
Salon
Copying Beethoven has an ace up its sleeve: the wonder and drama of the Ninth Symphony itself (heard here in Bernard Haitink's tremendous 1996 recording with the Royal Concertgebouw). - 75
Chicago Tribune
Copying Beethoven, at its best, is a sort of grand cinema opera of the composer's life and music. - 75
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Has one knockout sequence: the deaf maestro conducting his Ninth Symphony as Anna coaches from the wings. It goes on for what seems a whole reel, but it's so sublime it seems too short and, by itself, could stand as one of the greatest classic music videos ever. - 63
ReelViews
This is one of those middle-of-the-road art pictures that will impress some music lovers and attract a small audience, but won't really excite anyone. Copying Beethoven does not do for its title composer what Amadeus did for Mozart, and that's a shame. - 60
Village Voice
Screenwriters Stephen J. Rivele and Christopher Wilkinson, best known for the two ponderous biopics "Ali" and "Nixon," deliver a film awkwardly composed. - 50
The Hollywood Reporter
The picture never successfully comes off the written page. - 50
Variety
Helmer Agnieszka Holland's Copying Beethoven joins 1994's "Immortal Beloved" in the ranks of mediocre dramatic interpretations of Beethoven's biography. - 50
L.A. Weekly
One is left yearning for the overheated melodrama of Bernard Rose's 1994 Beethoven biopic, "Immortal Beloved," which was trashy, but fun.
