Copying Beethoven: Grade F

F

Copying Beethoven (2006)

Ed Harris, Diane Kruger; Director Agnieszka Holland

First let’s be clear about Beethoven’s 9th symphony: It gets an A+. But this movie can take no responsibility for that. It fails on so many levels. Ed Harris does a respectable job with a lame story and a dead script. Kruger does well with the jarringly inane dialog. Lighting is ridiculous, photography stereotyped, directing unimaginative. Beethoven’s hearing loss is not treated consistently. At times he is stone deaf but at other moments he hears whispers. There is no story line pushing the action. The social significance and musical revolution of the 9th are glossed over. The relationship between Beethoven (Harris) and his copyist (Kruger) is lifeless. There is just nothing here.