Copying Beethoven
Directed by Agnieszka Holland
Ed Harris seems to have a penchant for playing great artists whose genius pushes them outside the limits of polite society and, indeed, to the brink of madness. First was his tour-de-force performance as Jackson Pollock, and now he inhabits Ludwig van Beethoven in Copying Beethoven.
Harris transforms himself so entirely into the maestro that he’s unrecognizable as himself. Harris is Beethoven—advanced in age, sickly, almost deaf. He’s a wild man: irascible, imperious, egotistical, demanding and enormously frustrated that he can no longer hear music—except in his head. He’s terrified about (mis)conducting the orchestra at the premier of his much anticipated Ninth Symphony. His jealous rivals and detractors speculate about his demise and take such delight in his difficulties that it causes him to further sink into anguish and anger.
Into his life walks Anna Holtz (Diane Kruger), a young woman hired by Beethoven’s publisher to copy his scrawled score. An aspiring composer herself, Anna hopes to show the maestro her own compositions, but his behavior toward her is hideously obnoxious. Yet she, in awe of his greatness, sees beyond the abuse, sympathizes with his pain and passion and steps up to save him.
At the premier of the symphony, she stands in the wings conducting Beethoven so he can conduct the orchestra. This compelling sequence towards the end of the film is the musical consummation of their relationship, and it’s orgasmic—a most beautiful cinematic expression of the ecstasy of music.
The character of Anna is an invented one. At times, she seems a bit too modern, but director Agnieszka Holland deftly overcomes anachronisms by convincingly establishing the ambiance of 1824, the year of the premier. You believe and are swept away by the rhapsody.
The film is beautiful to watch—costumes, décor and cinematography are all gorgeous—but the film’s most exquisite element is the music: Copying Beethoven puts you inside the deaf maestro’s head where you can hear the singing of his soul.
