Beethoven and Ed Harris
Oct. 23rd, 2006 08:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariYesterday I got to see a sneak preview of Copying Beethoven at the MFA. It's a fictional story about Beethoven and Anna Holz, a young composer who works with Beethoven as his copyist during the last couple of years of his life. Anna is a completely fictional character, and the story is largely fiction, but built around actual events like the premier of the 9th symphony. Although not a romance, Copying Beethoven is a little like Shakespeare in Love in that it uses a fictional story to illuminate the life and work of a great artist.
Ed Harris plays Beethoven, and does a very good job. I would not necessarily have thought of him as an obvious choice for the role, but he really gets it. Not surprising, considering Harris spent the better part of a year studying Beethoven and his music as well as conducting, violin, and piano to prepare for the part. He does a good job with the conducting and piano playing, too.
The conducting is especially important because the premier of the 9th Symphony at which Beethoven conducted despite his profound deafness is one of the longest and most important scenes in the film. And oh, it is beautifully done, both the acting and the direction. I never get tired of the 9th, and the director (Agnieszka Holland) shot the sequence in such a way as to make the music as much of a screen presence as the actors.
I also thought that Copying Beethoven did a good job of portraying how it is to compose. It's not perfect, but it's as close as I've ever seen a movie come (it completely leaves Amadeus in the dust in this regard). In fact, in many ways, how it is to compose music is the real subject of the film.
Ed Harris himself came up from New York for a Q&A session after the movie. He had a lot of interesting things to say. I particularly liked the way he emphasized how much work the study he had to do to play Beethoven was. Music is hard work and I'm glad he got up and said so. Ed Harris comes across as pretty nice, down-to-earth person. He seems much more interested in the craft and art of film-making and in working hard to do it well than in the trappings of wealth and fame. After the Q&A session, I even got to meet Mr. Harris. He hung about for a bit to greet people, so I went up and shook his hand and expressed my admiration for his performance. He thanked me. He was cordial and pleasant.
I'm planning on going to see Copying Beethoven again when it comes out in the theaters in November. I highly recommend it to everyone, whether or not you're into classical music.
Ed Harris plays Beethoven, and does a very good job. I would not necessarily have thought of him as an obvious choice for the role, but he really gets it. Not surprising, considering Harris spent the better part of a year studying Beethoven and his music as well as conducting, violin, and piano to prepare for the part. He does a good job with the conducting and piano playing, too.
The conducting is especially important because the premier of the 9th Symphony at which Beethoven conducted despite his profound deafness is one of the longest and most important scenes in the film. And oh, it is beautifully done, both the acting and the direction. I never get tired of the 9th, and the director (Agnieszka Holland) shot the sequence in such a way as to make the music as much of a screen presence as the actors.
I also thought that Copying Beethoven did a good job of portraying how it is to compose. It's not perfect, but it's as close as I've ever seen a movie come (it completely leaves Amadeus in the dust in this regard). In fact, in many ways, how it is to compose music is the real subject of the film.
Ed Harris himself came up from New York for a Q&A session after the movie. He had a lot of interesting things to say. I particularly liked the way he emphasized how much work the study he had to do to play Beethoven was. Music is hard work and I'm glad he got up and said so. Ed Harris comes across as pretty nice, down-to-earth person. He seems much more interested in the craft and art of film-making and in working hard to do it well than in the trappings of wealth and fame. After the Q&A session, I even got to meet Mr. Harris. He hung about for a bit to greet people, so I went up and shook his hand and expressed my admiration for his performance. He thanked me. He was cordial and pleasant.
I'm planning on going to see Copying Beethoven again when it comes out in the theaters in November. I highly recommend it to everyone, whether or not you're into classical music.
