Immortal Beloved * (1994, Gary Oldman, Jeroen Krabbé, Isabella Rossellini, Marco Hofschneider) – Classic Movie Review 10,354

Writer-director Bernard Rose’s fumbled 1994 film Immortal Beloved is a plush but pretty tedious historical biopic, with Gary Oldman bravely battling miscasting as musical ‘genius’ Ludwig van Beethoven, with the mystery of the composer’s Unsterbliche Geliebte (Immortal Beloved) in the spotlight.

Famously, the composer wrote a love letter to a nameless beloved, and Bernard Rose, though not a historian, sets out to try to explore exactly who that is among the many candidates. Jeroen Krabbé plays Beethoven’s secretary and first biographer Anton Schindler, who journeys through the Austrian Empire interviewing women to try to find the identity of the Immortal Beloved) addressed in a three-part letter found in the composer’s private papers after his death in 1827.

Written in summer 1812 from the Czech spa town of Teplice, the letter has sparked much speculation about the Beloved’s identity, but among the candidates are Giulietta Guicciardi, Thérèse von Brunswick, Josephine Brunsvik, Antonie Brentano, and Anna-Marie Erdödy,

[Spoiler alert] Rose’s claim that the person was Beethoven’s sister-in-law Johanna (Reiss) van Beethoven has been endorsed by no Beethoven scholar. The film also implies that Beethoven’s nephew Karl was really the couple’s son, which is disputed by Beethoven biographer Gail S Altman.

On the plus side Immortal Beloved is a handsome production, and there is impressive cinematography by Peter Suschitzky, Production Design by Jirí Hlupý and Art Direction by John Myhre. And, of course, above all, there is Beethoven’s thrilling music, beautifully played and effectively used. It looks and sounds a treat.

Marco Hofschneider as Karl van Beethoven.

Also in the cast are Jeroen Krabbé as Anton Felix Schindler, Isabella Rossellini as Anna Marie Erdödy, Johanne ter Steege as Johanna Reiss, Marco Hofschneider as Beethoven’s nephew Karl van Beethoven, Miriam Margolyes as Nanette Streicherová, Barry Humphries as Clemens Metternich, Valeria Golino as Giulietta Guicciardi, Gerard Horan as Nikolaus Johann van Beethoven, Christopher Fulford as Kaspar Anton Carl van Beethoven, Alexandra Pigg as Therese Obermayer, Geno Lechner as Josephine von Brunsvik, Claudia Solti as Theresa von Brunsvik, Michael Culkin as as Jakob Hotscevar, Luigi Diberti, Donal Gibson and Matthew North.

The London Symphony Orchestra is conducted by Georg Solti, with instrumental soloists Murray Perahia on piano and Gidon Kremer on violin, and the Juilliard String Quartet.

Made by Icon Productions and distributed by Columbia Pictures, Immortal Beloved was a modest success, generating $9,914,409 at the box office.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,354

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