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Review:
 There's
a famous moment in the history of music: at the end of the premier
of his ninth symphony, the great composer Ludwig van Beethoven,
who was completely deaf by then, cannot hear the audience going
wild behind him. A woman comes out of nowhere and turns him around
to see the thunderous applause. This immortal anecdote brings to
mind questions, the foremost of which was: Who was she?
Well, since after 180 years, there's no way to find out,
screenwriters Stephen J. Rivele) & Christopher Wilkinson, who
wrote the script for Oliver Stone's ahistorical masterpiece
“Nixon” have decided to create her…giving her credit for all sorts
of other things, of course.
Anna Holtz (Diane Kruger) a young music student, has arrived in
Vienna on a special mission, the famous impresario Wenzel
Schlemmer (Ralph Riach) is in desperate need of a copyist to
transcribe the various parts of the great Beethoven's (Ed Harris)
in time for the work's premier in four days.
This being the 1820s, the fact that Anna is a girl, at first,
scandalizes both Schlemmer and Beethoven, but her competence and
the simple fact that time is of the essence wins them over. We've
now got a platonic romance going on in what might be described
light comedy.
While there are the usual comedic plot twists, like the
conflict between Beethoven and Anna's boyfriend Martin(Matthew
Goode), the appearance of the great man's nephew Karl(Joe
Anderson), and the conflict with the downstairs neighbor, this
film has got more than that. It's got Ed Harris chewing the
scenery with a joy that is quite infectious. His Beethoven is
reminiscent of a character from Christopher Guest's mockumenteries,
a cartoonish buffoon who, none the less, is capable of greatness.
The whole thing is sitcom, but that isn't necessarily a bad
thing. The premier of the great Ninth symphony is a hoot, really
great television that works as a movie. It's lots of fun, with
great performances all around. But this is Ed Harris' shining
moment, going back and forth between the silly old codger and the
genius philosopher and back again. His explanation of why he is
the way his is quite believable.
This is one of the big ones for the fall. See it.
Eric Lurio
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