Very Cool!!!

The greatest movie ever made..!

Absolutely Fantastic

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

No, it didn't happen that way, and yes, it's derivative, with the obnoxious genius trope from "Amadeus" and the young girl inspires jaded artist trope from "Girl with a Pearl Earring." Why is it still worth it? Because it makes you feel something of what it is like to write music--even if you don't write music. It also makes you understand what it is like to be around a genius, not just from the main (fictional) character of Anna, but even from minor characters, i.e., the neighbor who finds Beethoven a nuisance personally, but gets to hear all his music before anyone else. It also gives you some idea of Beethoven's matter- of-fact acceptance of his dual nature, that he can write such heavenly music while being an utter boor as a man.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. Do you know someone that used to be the kind of person that if I had an old car restored, it had to be original in every detail or else not worth the effort. As I grow older, I enjoy the modern changes in instrumentation and suspension, along with the safety features. We appreciate those that are stuck in their old ways but this film was so much fun to see the actors in character, the camera-work and direction. I've been told lately that everything to me is political and after "Footloose" I might agree that I can find a political back story in most everything. The artist must follow their own heart, for that is biased enough without consciously considering the "factual" in an art piece. IMHO-IMDb Bravo ! Lawson di Ransom Canyon

This is a movie about Ludwig von Beethoven for dumb people who've never heard of Ludwig von Beethoven. Why dumb people who've never heard of Beethoven would ever want to watch a film about him is something that should have been asked before this production ever got started.Anna Holtz (Diane Kruger) is a young student of music composition who's been sent to Vienna in 1824 to assist the famed maestro, Beethoven (Ed Harris). She is to be his copyist, taking his scribbled notes and rewriting it into something that can be distributed to musicians. The aging and almost deaf Beethoven is just days away from the premiere of his 9th Symphony and he's still writing it. That's the set up. What follows from that is, almost measure for measure, every cliché you ever see in one of these stories about a famous old guy and the young woman who admires him. He's impossibly difficult and abusive. She stands up to him. He comes to need her more than he admits to himself. She's the only one who stands by him in his declining years. Yadda, yadda, yadda.There are only two things of interest in Copying Beethoven. One is that you could use it as a class film for really stupid music students. It's less a story about Beethoven's life and music and more exercise in characters appearing on screen to plainly and awkwardly recite certain facts about the great genius. If you watch this movie, you'll come away having heard quite a lot of basic information about Beethoven toward the tail end of his musical career. The other interesting thing about Copying Beethoven is that it is a good reminder of how artists of any sort getting rich off their work is a very recent phenomenon. Creative types used to be dependent on the support of wealthy patrons, who generally didn't pay them that much. Here's Beethoven, who was famous for his music in his own life, yet he's living barely better than an upper middle class existence with a small apartment in a run down Vienna building. It is only when artists were able to sell their work to the masses that they could become rich, as well as famous.The acting of Ed Harris, Diane Kruger and the rest of the cast is fine, but these are all shallowly drawn characters behaving in bluntly obvious ways. There's never any emotion shown or action taken that isn't also explained, either by the character in question or someone else. This film also spends at least 15 minutes show Beethoven conducting the first performance of his 9th Symphony. The music is great and all, but on the screen it comes off as the world's longest and most boring music video of all time.I don't know if this script got excessively dumbed down at some point, but unless you're looking for a remedial primer on Beethoven's later life, you can give this movie a pass.

First of all,I am musician and have studied countless hours of form, harmony and structure. This film captures all of that from beginning to end.Of course this is a fictional film filled with many ideas but the 'story' is found behind the music. I think choosing a woman to copy his music is simply a superb move by the creators of this film. I strongly believe Beethoven although deaf had help from an Angel, an Immortal Beloved who reflected his thoughts and his feelings back to him through his music.Ed Harris is exceptional. At times I am sure the old Maestro had taken over Ed Harris's body. Very, very believable and the way he handle the 'musician' side of things was outstanding.As you can see, this film touched me. The message from Beethoven is brought to us after the performance of the ninth (during the film.) The bridge that is destroyed, how many times have we had our dreams destroyed only for us to bounce back more powerfully? How many times have we had our composition destroyed by critics only for us to learn to write from the heart more? The world doesn't need another Beethoven, it needs your music, your pictures, your words, you find it in the silence.This film cannot be watched with only your eyes but felt through your soul. If you love Beethoven music, if you have looked for answers to the questions in his music, this film is for you.