Rating: 
Summary: A Campy Look At Beethoven
Review: Gary Oldman generally is very impressive in his roles, he can absorb and become the character he is playing. However, I am afraid in this role as Beethoven, he just seems like Gary Oldham "acting".
He consistently starts shaking his head as if he has Parkinson's disease as he conducts. Where does it say in history that Beethoven did this?
The costumes look as if they were rented from a Halloween store. The accents are very wooden and fake, and the acting is way too dramatic and overblown. Some scenes play out like a campy Saturday Night Live skit based on Beethoven. You can't help but laugh at some of the "serious" scenes because of the cheesy acting. Especially the fight scene where he hits the man with TB, and the man proceeds to bleed from his mouth.
If you can make through the first half of the film, which seems to drag, the second half of the film is where it gets amazing. The cinematography really takes off and there are some genuinely touching moments.
There are moments watching Beethoven execute music that are very effective. Especially when his nephew states that he (Beethoven) has gone mad, and occasionally blurts out a few notes that are the basis for a great orchestration. You will recognize the "few notes" and be floored when they are finally played out.
However this movie caters to the movie going public. Please don't be suckered into thinking everything was this lush and romantic. When in reality Tuberculosis was rampant and surroundings were dingy and unsanitary.
Rating: 
Summary: The Music heard correctly for the first time in 200 years.
Review: I am here going to address some aspects of the performance of the Moonlight sonata. Let me applaud the piano performance by Perahia. The daringly fast tempi taken in the Moonlight sonata is true to current modern thinking about this work. In Beethoven the man he has become Beethoven the God. The Romantic era (appx 1830-1900) was a time of lush melodies, intense emotion and beauty as an ideal. Yet this was not Beethoven's time. LVB indeed has certain aspects of Romanticism in his music, however without a doubt he leaned more towards the Classical era. Of course, an incomparable master such as LVB can not be so easily pidgeon-holed: indeed, how does one categorize the "beklemt" episode in the Cavatina of the op130? Music of another time and space...
Yet, through the filter of the Romantics, especially Wagner and his theories of tempi fluctuatiuon (poorly summarized as "slower tempi= more meaning"), we are forced to hear Beethoven's music in a different way than he himself saw it. In this Moonlight performance, we hear the tempi as it is most likely truly intended by B. Not a "funeral dirge" as the director says, but in "cut time" (a "C" with a line down the middle), it is 2/4 (2 quarter notes per measure) not 4/4, which indicates a fast tempo, exactly twice as fast. Beethoven's marking on the score. Everyone you have ever known has likely listened to this famous piece the wrong way for the past 200 years. Taken so slowly to extract the last bit of emotion from it, the work is not what B intended. "Moonlight" itself is a nickname given many decades later to invoke a Romantic scenery. It is not Beethvoen's. Here in this movie, amazingly, the director has the guts to present what many believe is the correct performance, heard for the first time ever on film.
Rating:
Summary: True to the spirit
Review: Whether or not you buy this film's premise as to who Ludwig van Beethoven's "Immortal Beloved" is, one can not help being swept up in the passion and genius of this, one of history's greatest musical masterminds.Historians may debate this Bernard Rose interpretation of Beethoven's life -- in fact, most contend the composer may never have known the love of a woman -- but Rose and actor Gary Oldman do an outstanding job of showing the passions and depth of emotion of this often tortured man, struggling with deafness, who funneled his tempestuos spirit into every note of every composition. Immortal Beloved is not as grandiose a film as Amadeus, but manages to reveal the spirit of Beethoven through the unravelling of a mystery -- the composer's last will and testament and it's reference to an unknown "Immortal Beloved." As Beethoven's close friend embarks on a search for the mysterious love, the composer's life is revealed, bit by bit, with the maestro's music following in step as the film's soundtrack. All in all, an inspiring film that is true to the spirit of a man whose music grew in greatness as his world around him faded into silence.
Rating: 
Summary: Thrilling rendition of Beethoven¿s mystery inamorata
Review: Ludwig van Beethoven's mystery lover is speculatively revealed in this masterpiece. Gary Oldman plays the deaf composer with heartbreaking realism in a series of flashbacks. Director Bernard Rose has created a moving portrait of this most complicated of artists.
Gorgeous film.
Rating:
Summary: In my Top 5
Review: This movie has no less of an impact on me today, than the first time I saw it, eight years ago. Beethoven, Gary Oldman and a heartbreaking story...what more could you want.
Rating:
Summary: An immortally perfect film
Review: I first came across this movie whilst surfing the internet, and based on previous reviews, i was compelled to watch it, since i had watched Amadeus, and would like to have this movie as a companion film. After a whole month of scouring most of the DVD shops for the DVD/VCD of this movie and to no avail, i ordered my copy here, and i must say that i have not regretted my purchase. Being a music student, this film has opened the world of Beethoven to me, and thus began a greater and deeper appreciation of his sublime works. This film not only focuses on Beethoven's music, but also about his troubled love affair, his "immortal beloved", to whom he had dedicated his entire estate. I was also very impressed with Gary Oldman's remarkable and outstanding performance as the deaf composer. His versatility as an actor has truly paid off in this movie. Be prepared for quite a few scenes in this movie that might just tear your heart apart. The scene in which Beethoven places his head on the piano, just to feel the vibrations of the piano strings as he plays the languidly beautiful "moonlight" sonata is heartwrenching, for we sense, deep down, the composer's frustration. How is it possible for a composer so talented to be unable to hear his own compositions, music that words alone cannot describe? Director Bernard Rose surely saves the best for last. Unforgettable is the sequence where Beethoven, in the concert hall during the premiere of the Ninth Symphony, has flashbacks of his childhood, where the young Beethoven escapes from his house and runs through the woods (such wonderful scenery!) accompanied by the finale of his "Choral" symphony. Viewers will be emotionally transfixed to the screen, totally absorbed in the enrapturing music. Last but not least, and my most favourite scene of all, is the "finale" of the movie, where the true identity of Beethoven's "immortal beloved" is revealed. The 2nd movement of the "Emperor" piano concerto is played, as an excerpt of Beethoven's letter to the Immortal Beloved is read out (by Oldman). Such passion manifested in the words, together with the searchingly beautiful Adagio and the heartwrenching scene arouse such emotion and beauty that one will inevitably reach out for a tissue. A highly recommended movie to rewatch over and over again. Do get the soundtrack as well, with recordings done by Sir Georg Solti with the London Symphony Orchestra, and featuring guest players such as Yo-Yo Ma, Murray Perahia, Emanuel Ax and more. A unique love story that will leave us in tears, but our hearts warm and fuzzy at the end.
Rating:
Summary: Better Than Amadeus?
Review: This 1995 film by Bernard Rose is perhaps even better than 1984's triumphant "Amadeus" in my opinion (and let's be honest, it's impossible not to compare the two). I've always preferred Beethoven's music to Mozart's, and I just enjoy the detective story within this film better than Salieri's psychotic jealousy as he unfold's Mozart's story in Amadeus.
Gary Oldman does an incredible job of playing the aging composer. Not only is he convincing as a deaf man, but he even learned to actually play his instruments for this role with such believability. He should have received the Best Actor Oscar for this role that year. It's an incredible performance through and through.
Unlike Amadeus, which never really puts us into the mind of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, "Immortal Beloved" puts you directly into "the mental state of the composer" as you subconsciously and consciously learn about his life and career.
Besides this, there's a conscious nod to Stanley Kubrick throughout that definately warmed me to an already great film that I can't help but call the most underrated film of the 1990's.
Rating:
Summary: Passafist Tackels Immortal Beloved
Review: What makes a genius? Is it natural ability? Or is it the people, friends or enemies, around you the create genius? Is it you're body of work? Or is it the way people perceive your body of work? These are the questions I found myself asking while watching IMMORTAL BELOVED. An interesting if flawed motion picture. IMMORTAL BELOVED is the life of 19th Century Composer Ludwig Van Beethoven (Gary Oldman, Leon) as told by his friends, enemies, and his lovers. Days after Beethoven's death his secretary, Anton Schindler, (Jeroen Krabbe, The Fugitive) discovers a letter that leaves everything in his will to an unknown women. She is his Immortal Beloved, and so Schindler goes on a quest to discover just whom this mystery women is. The film can and probably is compared to two far better films, CITIZEN KANE (for it's setup) and AMADEAUS (for it's chronicle of a famous composer) and while I would never put IMMORTAL BELOVED on any list close to those films, it uses the ideas from both films in a compelling manor. As Schindler visits new people the genius of Beethoven is discovered. The Immortal Beloved, like rosebud, merely a mcguffin, an ends to a means of the plot. When you finally discover the answers, you've already kind of guessed it. But it's well worth the ride. There are some really great moments in this film. I loved it when Beethoven plays a piano for the first time. I love has the camera shows us without telling us just how deaf Beethoven is. The pain and anguish telescoped in the music, and yet for a small moment he's happy, it's been so long since he's played and it all comes flooding back. Then everything is dashed. I also loved the thrill of Beethoven's 9th as we see a glimpse of his childhood and then we hear the silence through Beethoven's ears. These scenes are powerful and gripping, very good stuff. Gary Oldman delivers most of the films great moments, himself. He for the most part plays against type. This film calls for him too be very introverted. His performance is kept very much at bay. When he gets a good role, Oldman fills it with so much love, this is a great perfomance. It's the ensemble and some of the special effects that let me down. There are moments in this film that feel forced and fake. Especially early on, the first few people we meet are kind of dull. Especially Valeria Golino's (Rain Man) scenes, I love Golino but her story did very little to move the story along. I would have removed most of it. There is also this scene on a carriage, that uses some of the worst back projection ever. It pulled me out of the moment. It was so bad. But fortunately when Isabella Rossellini shows up, the bulk of the film begins to unfold, that's when the story gets good. That's when director Bernard Rose (Candyman) begins to craft a fascinating mystery. Being that I know very little about Beethoven, I'm not quite sure how much of this film is true. But if it is, wow what an interesting life Mr. Beethoven had. I only know his music and it's nice to see why these songs were written. This is what makes this film really great. Beethoven's music has been reproduced faithfully, and it's never wasted. What a soundtrack! I really liked spending time with Beethoven's IMMORTAL BELOVED.
Rating:
Summary: Simply Brilliant
Review: Gary Oldman gives a tour de force performance as Ludwig Van Beethoven. The story centers around the search of the "Immortal Beloved". There were three letters Ludwig wrote, yet not mailed, that put his heart down on paper. Who was she? There is your search. To see Ludwig place his head on the piano to hear the notes of "Adagio Sostenuto" or "Moonlight Serenade" is beyond beautiful. Bearing in mind that Ludwig can't hear, he has to "feel" the vibrations emanting from the piano. Gary Oldman simply at his his finest, as he is really playing Beethoven! I have seen Amadeus, and it ranks as of my all time faves.....but to see the maestro Beethoven suffer, and be glorified thru his music is as close to perfection as one can ask. I can only ask. If you were given a GREAT gift like Beethoven was....yet could not hear the notes you were composing......how would you react? After watching Gary Oldman, I can envision the great maestro himself nodding in agreement. If you don't see this movie, you are denying one of the greatest performances by an all star cast. See this movie, see Ludwig as he was, and see the women who loved him through his difficulties.
Rating:
Summary: Very close to a "5"
Review: Immortal Beloved does so many things right. It weaves a thought-provoking character study into a speculative tale about the identity of a woman with whom Beethoven had fallen in love. The movie's brisk pace has much to do with a wonderful script that paints more than it tells, and with a bravura performance by Gary Oldman. The cinematography is lush and breathtaking, particularly the scenes involving Beethoven as a child. I will never forget the 9th Symphony rising in the background as the young Ludwig floats in a sea of stars. Magnificent. Likewise magnificent is the scene in which it becomes apparent that Beethoven has lost his hearing. Immortal Beloved, in my opinion, is slightly better than Amadeus (in part because of the portrayal of Mozart that feels slightly contrived). They are both wonderful movies, though, and both worth sharing with children ten or older (or even younger, if you think they are ready for it).
| 
