IMMORTAL BELOVED

1. What is the movie all about?

The Immortal Beloved (German "Unsterbliche Geliebte") is the mysterious
addressee of a love letter which composer Ludwig van Beethoven wrote on 67
July 1812 in Teplitz. The apparently unsent letter was found in the composer's
estate after his death, after which it remained in the hands of Anton
Schindler until his death, was subsequently willed to his sister, and was sold by
her in 1880 to the Berlin State Library, where it remains today. The letter is
written in pencil and consists of three parts.
Since Beethoven did not specify a year, nor a location, an exact dating of
the letter and identification of the addressee was speculative until the 1950s,
when an analysis of the paper's watermark yielded the year, and by extension the
place. Scholars have since this time been divided on the intended recipient of the
Immortal Beloved letter. The two candidates favored by most contemporary
scholars are Antonie Brentano and Josephine Brunsvik. Other candidates who
have been conjectured, with various degrees of mainstream scholarly support,
are Julie ("Giulietta") Guicciardi, Therese Malfatti, Anna-Marie Erddy, Bettina
Brentano, and several others.
2. Who are the main characters?
Gary Oldman as Ludwig van Beethoven
Jeroen Krabb as Anton Felix Schindler
Isabella Rossellini as Anna-Marie Erddy
Johanna ter Steege as Johanna Reiss
Christopher Fulford as Kaspar van Beethoven
Marco Hofschneider as Karl van Beethoven
Miriam Margolyes as Nanette Streicherova
Barry Humphries as Clemens Metternich
Valeria Golino as Giulietta Guicciardi
Alexandra Pigg as Therese Obermayer
Geno Lechner as Josephine von Brunsvik
Claudia Solti as Theresa von Brunsvik
3. When and where was the story set?

Filming took place in the Czech cities of Prague, Krom on the Milotice
chateau and Buchlovice chateau, and the Zentralfriedhof in Vienna, Austria
between May 23 and July 29, 1994.
4. Who is your favorite character in the movie? Why?
I admire Gary Oldman's acting abilities and some of his achievements in
this film, the film itself has so many flaws that it is hard to forgive.
5. What part of the film did you like best? Why?
The scenes with the Rossellini character are among the best in the film,
because here he finds a haven from his debts, from his troubles with the law,
from his wars with his relatives, from his fawning admirers and mocking rivals.
She sees most clearly his curious obsession with young Karl, which takes an odd
turn: Beethoven stops composing entirely for five years in order to supervise
Karl's education as a music virtuoso, despite the boy's tearful pleas to be allowed
to become a soldier.
Beethoven's deafness is a subject through much of the film, including a
precarious scene where the Rossellini character leads him from the stage after
he grows confused during a public performance, and another in which he
touches the wood of a pianoforte to hear the music through his fingers. He tried
desperately to conceal his deafness, fearing it would destroy his livelihood, and
on the soundtrack Rose sometimes reproduces what he can hear: Low rumbles
curiously like the music of the whales.

6. Analyze the used of music in the film. Did it enhance the filmmakers story?
While the soundtrack utilizes modern instruments, the pianos that appear
in the film actually date back to Beethoven's time. 'Immortal Beloved' is a film
enriched by a passion, drama and turbulence of an era. The scenery of the
aristocratic palaces, elegant middle class town houses, churches and chapels,
monuments and fountains are beautiful and exquisite. Beethoven's compositions
(wonderfully performed by the London Symphony Orchestra) are splendid and
voluptuous.

7. What did you learn from the story?

'Immortal Beloved' is a love story which not only captures the ideas of
early 19th century romanticism, but ultimately attempts to fasten the emotional
state of the music to the events that Beethoven lived through.We are given a look
into the composer's personality. Beethoven is seen impatient, impulsive,
unreasonable and intolerant; deafness adds suspicion and paranoia to these
attributes. We are even touched by an artist who yearns to express himself
creatively through music. He is an hostile, obstinate lover who would fly into a
rage at the slightest provocation, but a sensible human being who carries the
music in his heart, and whom the thorns of life had wounded so deeply.
8. What are the great qualities/traits of the composer that inspire you?
Immortal Beloved is a film that deeply affected not only the course of my
life, but also the quality. After seeing the dramatization of some of the more
"stormy" and "troubling" portions of his life, played suitably by Gary Oldman, in
this generous production for the modern audience, I came away with an even
deeper understanding of not just this man's music, but his contribution for all of
us, music as a whole and music as something alive.