Immortal Beloved (1994)

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.

The movie runs out of plot and jokes well before the end of a two-hour running time, long for a light comedy.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

I was very much looking forward to this, i always watch with an open mind and enthusiasm. That enthusiasm slowly waned, i found this one of those films were i kept asking myself " Did i miss something? ". I thought maybe it would start when Beethoven was younger, no it did not, well ok. There seemed to be lots of gaps and things left unexplained or left to your imagination, ah but i hear you say, that was the whole point of the film!. The acting was good but the storyline was trite.

I've been looking for this film for quite some time and finally found a copy on DVD. I absolutely love the style of this film. The costumes, the buildings, the interiors is superb and really captures the Vienna of that era. I found a few flaws in this film. For some reason I couldn't follow the plot at the beginning. The girls goes to a concert given by the maestro,, and yet goes into another room and there is Beethoven! Turns out the guy playing the piano was not him, however the actors looks so similar I found it odd. This happened a few times in this film for me.. maybe it's just me. Also there are quite a few historical points that are not accurate. Beethoven was only 57 when he died. But the death bed scene at the beginning makes him like like he is well into his eighties. He wasn't that old. Also, one of the early scenes when he was still quite young hand him placing his ear on the piano just to hear the notes. But he wasn't that deaf at such a young age. His hearing was failing but far from being profoundly deaf. The story line is totally fictitious, which is fine. No one knows who the real immortal beloved was although there are some good guesses. It doesn't matter though, it is still a great story. Also, they try to explain that he was such a miserable person because of his hearing. But notes from the time simply explain he wasn't a pleasant guy to be around. All in all though, I thought this was a terrific period piece of exceptional production values, directing and performances. I wish they made more movies like this.

Beethoven's life, music and unfair destiny should have been enough to create a marvelous drama. What we received is nothing, but a sticky mud, that devours every promising material, then throws them up and expects us to be amazed. This movie failed on many level and it serves as a perfect dishonorable example on the "how NOT to make a biography movie" list.Immortal Beloved tried to capture Beethoven's legacy from the wrong aspect. During it's 2 hour run-time, it wasn't able to present Beethoven's life, personality, music, disorder, so basically anything. Being an aggressive and obnoxious prick without a reason (deafness is petty one just by itself) doesn't consider to be a comprehensive representation of the biggest composers of the 19th century.We don't see the real reasons of his furious hate and rage towards everyone, we don't see the creating process of his music, we don't even see the phases of his deafness, nothing. The story pays way too much attention to Bethoven's love life, which is definitely not what the audience wants to see, moreover the final "twist" does not make any sense.I wanted to see his extraordinary composing ability, the way he turns simple notes into a stunningly beautiful catchy melody. I wanted to see his fight against the undefeatable opponent that appeared in form of a sickness. I wanted to see the composer, who was able to create incredible music without hearing a single note. What did I get? A poorly written and presented love square that can't live up to the expectations of anyone, who is interested in any kind of drama. Where are the trademarks of Bethoven? Where is passion, obsession or commitment? Where the hell is music at all?Just to be fair, there were a few things that didn't smell like rotten camelshit. Gary Oldman proved once again that he is a marvelous actor, who should get more recognition from the industry. Despite the poorly written script and his unbearable character, he delivered a great performance and he was the only one, who at least showed a spark of endeavor. It's agonizing to witness that Oldman could have brought Beethoven to life, but he didn't receive the basic support, which would have been necessary to play the role as it meant to be played. The final concert (Ode to Joy) was assembled kinda good, and the scene where he plays on piano without noticing the two unwanted spectators was a great moment as well. Unfortunately, these two scenes are just two small drops of rain in the desert of disappointment.I do not want to be a wise-ass, but Amadeus is a much more valuable representation of a composer's life (even considering the fact that it wasn't really about Mozart). Just showing the misery of becoming deaf could have made a good movie just by itself, but they didn't take advantage of this at all. A good director with a well written script might have made something memorable of this extremely talented composer, but Immortal Beloved is clearly a failed attempt, that represents NOTHING regarding Beethoven.

My first question after seeing this film was, where were the Oscar nominations? It deserved consideration for cinematography, directing, editing, set design, makeup, sound effects, writing, acting and more. Where was the Acamemy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences? Did they, like "Gettysburg", not see this film? It is a stunningly visual and audio masterpiece. The cast was brilliant, the scenery and set designs were magnificent, the directing well-paced and oh, that music! I have the blu-ray DVD and it wows me, every time I watch it. Was this film badly promoted? I don't remember an onslaught of publicity about it. It's similar to "Shawshank Redemption" as far as promotion goes. More people saw that movie after its theatrical runs, myself included. Most of us were rooting for "Pulp Fiction" over "Forest Gump" for Best Picture, but we hadn't seen "Shawshank" and obviously the Academy members hadn't either. It ranks in the Top 3 Best Films here at IMDb and so should "Immortal Beloved" be in the top rankings.