Immortal Beloved

Director: Bernard Rose Bernard Rose

Overview

"Journey deep into the mind of one of the greatest classical composers of all time in Columbia/TriStar Home Video's feature-intensive special edition of Immortal Beloved. Presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen (enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs) and featuring a lavish closed-captioned Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track, this edition also includes additional closed-captioned English Dolby Digital Surround and Spanish Dolby Digital stereo tracks with optional English and Spanish subtitles. Learn the story behind the mystery in the ""Beloved Beethoven"" documentary, and hear director Bernard Rose discuss the craftsmanship that went into the production of the film in a feature-length director's commentary track. Other extra features include an original featurette, talent files, the theatrical trailer, and production notes."

Product Details

Release Date:	10/05/1999
UPC:	0043396747692
Original Release:	1994
Rating:	R
Source:	SONY PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMT
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[stereo, Dolby Digital]
Language:	English
Time:	2:01:00
Sales rank:	31,736

Special Features

Digitally remastered audio and anamorphic video; Director's commentary; "Beloved Beethoven" documentary; Original featurette; Theatrical trailer; Talent files; Audio: English 5.1 [Dolby Digital], Spanish [Stereo]; Subtitles: English, Spanish; Scene selections; Production notes; Interactive menus

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Gary Oldman	Ludwig van Beethoven
Jeroen Krabbe	Anton Felix Schindler
Isabella Rossellini	Anna Marie Erdody
Johanna ter Steege	Johanna Reiss
Marco Hofschneider	Karl van Beethoven
Miriam Margolyes	Nanette Streicher
Barry Humphries	Clemens Metternich
Valeria Golino	Giulietta Guicciardi
Liugi DiBerti	Franz Josef Guicciardi
Matthew North	Young Karl Van Beethoven
Leo Faulkner	Young Ludwig Van Beethoven
Gerard Horan	Nikolaus Johann Van Beethoven
Luigi Diberti	Franz Josef Guicciardi
Christopher Fulford	Casper Anton Karl Van Beethoven
Alexandra Pigg	Therese Obermayer
Claudia Solti	Theresa von Brunsvik
Michael Culkin	Jakob Hotscevar
Donal Gibson	Karl Holz
Tomás Hanák	Jacob Raicz
Geno Lechner	Josephine von Brunswick
Petr Pospichal	Thin Man
Rory Edwards	Wenzel Robert von Gallenberg
Hannes Flaschberger	Joseph Deym
Fintan McKeown	Johann Van Beethoven
Everton Nelson	George Bridgtower
Sandra Voe	Marie Frolich
Bernard Rose	Elector Max Friedrich,Mimi Erdody
Jindra Petrakova	Lilo Braun
Marek Vasut	Custody Policeman
Hugo Kaminsky	Magistrate
Staislav Behal	Ignaz Schuppanzigh
Arnostka Mohelska	Suzanna Guicciardi
Stepan Hlatky	Zoltan
Anna Lovitt	Fritzi Erdody
Johan 'Josef' Kolinsky	August Erdody
Jan Kuzelka	Country Policeman
Barbora Srncova	Erdody Servant
Bruce Davey	Artillery Captain

Technical Credits

Bernard Rose

Bernard Rose	Director,Screenwriter
Bruce Davey	Producer
Marion Dougherty	Casting
Garth Inns	Special Effects
Steve McEveety	Executive Producer

Editorial Reviews

An attempt to do for Beethoven what was done for Mozart in Amadeus (1984), this fanciful blend of fact and fiction is a marvelous drama, if lacking in the sumptuous, visual feast qualities of the film it's aping. Rose creates one gorgeous sequence in which a youthful Beethoven escapes an abusive father, flees through the woods, and floats in a pond that reflects the starry night sky above, as the "Ode to Joy" from the "Ninth Symphony" blasts over the soundtrack. The rest of the film never quite reaches such heights, but it's properly grounded in the grumbling, wounded performance of Gary Oldman, who not surprisingly captures precisely the right intonations of a self-absorbed, prideful genius (perhaps not much of a stretch for the notoriously difficult actor). Rose's script posits that the composer's behavior was the result of a broken heart, and while scholars may certainly dispute many of his story's claims, the end result is a moving and soulful work, fleetingly ecstatic, and interestingly structured on the template provided by Citizen Kane (1941). If Immortal Beloved runs second to Amadeus on the list of great composer biographies, the margin between the two films is not a wide one by any means.