Movie Description
For her 2006 film, COPYING BEETHOVEN, acclaimed Polish director Agnieszka Holland, crafts a compelling fictionalized account of Ludwig van Beethoven (Ed Harris) as he creates his beloved Ninth Symphony, as seen through the eyes of Anna Holtz (Diane Kruger), a young music student assigned to transcribe his work. Although the thorny deaf composer initially resists Anna's help, the duo eventually form a fruitful relationship that results in one of the world's most spectacular classical pieces.
Holland's first major movie of the 21st century, COPYING BEETHOVEN not only allows the filmmaker to recreate 17th-century Vienna, it reunites her with Harris, who previously starred in her 1999 drama, THE THIRD MIRACLE. As with his portrayal of painter Jackson Pollock (POLLOCK), Harris's simmering on-screen intensity carries the film, with the elegant Kruger subtly serving as his unlikely foil. Although the movie unveils a few subplots, most notably one that involves Beethoven's uncharacteristically affectionate bond with his nephew Karl (Joe Anderson), its sights largely remain on the Ninth Symphony, which is stunningly represented in an extended concert sequence. While COPYING BEETHOVEN doesn't quite reach the cinematic heights of AMADEUS, it does stand out as an exceptionally well-rendered film about classical music and one of its most lauded figures.
| Credits | | Cast: | Joe Anderson, Nicholas Jones |
Editorial Reviews
"Harris manages to bring Beethoven to prickly life and has some lovely, moving scenes opposite Kruger."
Box Office - Lisa Schwarzbaum (11/01/2006)
"The presentation of the Ninth is reason alone to see the film....[Ms. Holland] orchestrates bursts of images and metronomic camera pans that become a visual counterpoint to the music's propulsive and flowing tempos..."
New York Times - Manohla Dargis (11/10/2006)
"[Holland] manages to depict the nascent relationship between maestro and acolyte with style and some subtlety..."
Sight and Sound - Kate Stables (09/01/2007)
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