What's your favorite scene from IB?

[Joy]

There is one good Beethoven film, ironically aimed at children, called Beethoven Lives Upstairs.

That is a good movie and more with sticking to the facts than the other two.

[Pastorale]

Indeed Michael, both films are dire. What's even more disconcerting is Pastorale's comment "I know that YEARS passed since the movie was filmed, but I wasn't even born then" - makes one feel quite ancient!

Peter, I'm sorry for making you feel ancient! I guess I may be too young. Musicians never grow old! Always remember this!

I quite liked Ninth Symphony scene, but the part when boy Beethoven enters river/lake/pool of water in forest seemed to me like total nonsense. Sorry if I seem so stupid, but can anyone explain why is this scene the best part of the movie? (Except for Garry Oldman's hair finally looking like Beethoven's )

[Michael]

There is one good Beethoven film, ironically aimed at children, called Beethoven Lives Upstairs.

Yes - I've seen it and it is indeed much better than the two mentioned.

[AeolianHarp]

There is one good Beethoven film, ironically aimed at children, called Beethoven Lives Upstairs.

[hal9000]

The movie had a few good moments but the plot was ridiculous. It showed Beethoven's devoted friend, Schindler, trying to track down the "Immortal beloved" to whom Beethoven had left all his money. (Actually, he left it to his nephew).
So, for the rest of the story, we have Schindler interviewing various women to establish which one was the Beloved. A better title for the film would have been "Schindler's List".

The big surprise at the end was that the Beloved turned out to be the woman Beethoven detested, his brother's wife and his nephew's mother. And, as a final clincher, the composer's nephew was actually his son.

The sad thing is that the true story would have been just as enthralling but Bernard Rose (the writer and director) decided to ditch reality for sensation.
Gary Oldman was very good as Beethoven and was especially convincing in the later scenes, my favourite being the premiere of the Ninth Symphony which was rather well done, culminating in a flashback of the young composer transfigured against a backdrop of the universe.

What a waste though.

That would have made the Oscars of 1994 a little more interesting, and slightly more confusing.

That's the only scene that has stuck with me, that and the Moonlight Sonata scene. Those are the culmination of what I remember from that film, it's been quite a while since I saw it.

And while I don't always mind artistic license (Amadeus with its warping of reality and English accents is a film I still love), there's enough interesting truth, and more importantly music, that I cling to the hope that a great Beethoven film will be made one day. There are still some wonderful scenes in both Immortal Beloved and Copying Beethoven, it's just what they are packaged in that's the problem.

[Michael]

That is indeed scary.
What is even more scary is the fact that I persuaded myself to like "Immortal Beloved" when it came out because I was so excited to see Beethoven on the big screen. There was no internet for me back then and no Beethoven Reference Site.

[Peter]

Indeed Michael, both films are dire. What's even more disconcerting is Pastorale's comment "I know that YEARS passed since the movie was filmed, but I wasn't even born then" - makes one feel quite ancient!

[Michael]

That's right, Joy. Poetic licence should have been revoked for another movie, "Copying Beethoven" which took even more liberties with the truth.

[Joy]

That was my favourite scene too Michael, pretty powerful. Gary Oldman was very good in that role. True stories are always more fascinating to me anyway but that's show biz! Isn't that known as poetic license or something like that and writers and movie makers do take advantage of that.

[Michael]

The movie had a few good moments but the plot was ridiculous. It showed Beethoven's devoted friend, Schindler, trying to track down the "Immortal beloved" to whom Beethoven had left all his money. (Actually, he left it to his nephew).
So, for the rest of the story, we have Schindler interviewing various women to establish which one was the Beloved. A better title for the film would have been "Schindler's List".

The big surprise at the end was that the Beloved turned out to be the woman Beethoven detested, his brother's wife and his nephew's mother. And, as a final clincher, the composer's nephew was actually his son.

The sad thing is that the true story would have been just as enthralling but Bernard Rose (the writer and director) decided to ditch reality for sensation.
Gary Oldman was very good as Beethoven and was especially convincing in the later scenes, my favourite being the premiere of the Ninth Symphony which was rather well done, culminating in a flashback of the young composer transfigured against a backdrop of the universe.

What a waste though.

[Pastorale]

I finally managed to watch that foolish movie "Immortal Beloved". Even though I'm not an expert, I saw that movie was simple Hollywood trash, but I was wondering which scene do you like the most? My favorite is when Schindler and Beethoven come to Metternich (I hope it's spelled like this) and they ask him to help Beethoven with "Ninth". And he just reads "Metternich is worse tyrant than Napoleon" and "Metternich should eat my shit". I was laughing out loud! Which scene do YOU like most? It would be also nice to know is there any good historical facts in the movie, can you tell me if there are. I know that YEARS passed since the movie was filmed, but I wasn't even born then, so... I didn't really have chance to see the premiere!