'Immortal Beloved' opens with Beethoven's death, followed by his funeral attended by the mourning masses...

Beethoven's final will and testament are found by the composer's mentor, Anton Felix Schindler (Jeroen Krabbé) who reads that all of Beethoven's music and fortune shall go to his sole heir, his secret passion, his immortal beloved...

No one then, or now, knows who the 'immortal beloved' is...

Director Bernard Rose decided it might be interesting to take a guess... So he framed his film in a puzzled story with Beethoven's confidante searching across Europe for clues...

Determined not to rest until he discovers the maestro's greatest love, Schindler travels to see several ladies in an attempt to learn the identity of the woman who meant so much to Ludwig van Beethoven...

Along the way, he meets with three candidates: Giulietta Guicciardi, Beethoven's attractive piano pupil, to whom Ludwig dedicated his 'Moonlight' sonata; Johanna Reiss, Beethoven's immoral sister-in-law, who 'could not hate the man who could write such music;' and Anna Marie Erdödy, the beautiful Hungarian Countess, who opened her heart to the German composer...

All of the mentioned women loved Beethoven, and one of them could certainly be his angel, his all, his other self...

With the use of the Ninth Symphony's "Ode to Joy," there is a beautiful shot of young Ludwig floating in the firmament, lost thereafter between the luminous celestial bodies... Another scene is quite poignant of Beethoven, unaware even that the music had ceased, is also unaware of the tremendous burst of applause that greeted it...

'Immortal Beloved' is a love story which not only captures the ideas of early 19th century romanticism, but ultimately attempts to fasten the emotional state of the music to the events that Beethoven lived through... We are given a look into the composer's personality... Beethoven is seen impatient, impulsive, unreasonable and intolerant; deafness adds suspicion and paranoia to these attributes...

We are invited to watch his treasured feelings... We are even touched by an artist who yearns to express himself creatively through music... He is an hostile, obstinate lover who would fly into a rage at the slightest provocation, but a sensible human being who carries the music in his heart, and whom the thorns of life had wounded so deeply...

Like all pianists of the late 18th century, Beethoven is raised on the sonatas of expressive music at a time when music was regarded as the art of pleasing sounds... The dramatic scene of his 'Moonlight Sonata' communicated to a deafened ear, expresses all his emotional pain: We listen beautifully what he cannot... He reveals, through his delightful piece, his soul and the inner torment he is suffering... We perceive what the music is evoking in his mind... we also find that he is a temperamental lover who seeks to reach the perfect love...

With finesse and style Gary Oldman stars as the first composer, always stubborn, unyielding and struggling against destiny... Oldman seems to feel the brave, the commanding, and the impetuous of the virtuoso pianist more than what is reassuring or gentle... The muscles of his face swell, and its veins start out... His wild eye rolls doubly wild... His mouth trembles as he looks overpowered with the character's deafness, strengthened by a stubborn nature...

Set in Vienna, but exquisitely shot in and around Prague, 'Immortal Beloved' concentrates on Beethoven's women, his cruel battle for custody and control of his little nephew, his constant fight with himself, with the sound of agitation...

'Immortal Beloved' is a film enriched by a passion, drama and turbulence of an era... The scenery of the aristocratic palaces, elegant middle class town houses, churches and chapels, monuments and fountains are beautiful and exquisite... Beethoven's compositions (wonderfully performed by the London Symphony Orchestra) are splendid and voluptuous...

I know that Immortal Beloved has been compared to Amadeus, and here I am going to keep my comparison brief, personally I don't think Immortal Beloved is quite as good as Amadeus, but I love both films with a passion. Ludwig Van Beethoven is my all time favourite classical music composer, and having watched Eroica with Ian Hart and the 3-part BBC dramatisation of Beethoven with Paul Rhys, I wanted to see what this film was like. My conclusion is that Immortal Beloved is a visually audacious, musically majestic and imaginative near-masterpiece.

Immortal Beloved certainly looks stunning. The scenery is gorgeous, the costumes sumptuous and the cinematography fluid and beautiful. Seriously when you are transported to 18th century Vienna you feel like you have just come out of a time machine. There are also many effective scenes such as young Ludwig running away from his abusive father, Johanna visiting Beethoven as he lies dying in bed (one of the few times when a piece of classical music-the String Quartet Op.130 here- reduced me to tears in just one scene of one film),Beethoven resting his ear while playing the Moonlight Sonata, Beethoven with his back to the audience during the performance of the Choral Symphony and the performance of the Emperor concerto(I did read somewhere that during a concert when the orchestra wouldn't play the piece right, Beethoven stopped it and ordered for it to be played again). Even the use of Missa Solemnis was beautifully done, so hauntingly beautiful.

The music is a revelation, pretty much the heart and soul of the film. It is a true delight from start to finish, I loved hearing the Moonlight and Pathetique sonatas, the Choral Symphony(the Ode to Joy movement has always been my favourite work of his),the Emperor Concerto,the violin concerto, Missa Solemnis and the 2nd movement of the 7th symphony as it was performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Georg Solti.

Bernard Rose is an unusual choice for director, having directed the gruesome horror film Caddyshack, but he does respectably as he seeks to identify the "immortal beloved" of Beethoven's will(to this day we don't know who Beethoven is referring to). The scripting is intelligent and moving, one might say it doesn't say much, but it has heart, and the story is solid, deep and doesn't meander.

The acting is uniformly excellent. Jeroen Krabbe is fine as Anton Schindler, and Isabella Rosselini, Johanna ter Steege and Valeria Golino look beautiful and act very convincingly as the suspects of Beethoven's affections. I have to say though Gary Oldman does give the best performance of the film, while some scenes could have done with a touch more moderato it was a superb, charismatic and moving performance. I have read complaints that Oldman overacted, complaints I don't agree with at all. Just because Beethoven shouts a lot here, doesn't mean Oldman was overacting, and he certainly didn't overact in the final scene between him and Johanna, his acting was a masterclass of sheer poignancy there. Beethoven wasn't exactly a knight in shining armour now was he? He was rude, aggressive and reacted vehemently to even the smallest thing and probably traumatised by the memories of being abused by his alcoholic father. Beethoven also encountered alcoholism and increasing deafness, and by 1812 or so he was deaf completely.

Overall, this is a wonderful, underrated film. Only problem with it? I did feel the ending was a little too open-and-shut, but maybe it is just me. I cannot deny though that this is a great film. 9.5/10 Bethany Cox

After the death of Ludwig van Beethoven (Gary Oldman) in 1827, Schindler (Jeroen Krabbé) is tasked with dealing with his last will and testament. He leaves his estate to his "immortal beloved". Schindler sets off to find whoever this immortal beloved may be. He interviews Beethoven's love Giulietta Guicciardi (Valeria Golino),Anna-Marie Erdödy (Isabella Rossellini) as well as others. Johanna Reiss (Johanna ter Steege) is also his lover but she marries his brother Kaspar instead. She has Karl van Beethoven assumed to be Ludwig's son.

Oldman is terrific in this luscious costume drama. Beethoven is portrayed as an arrogant bastard which Oldman plays beautifully. However, the plot lacks a certain tension. It depends on how interested one is about finding the identity of this immortal beloved. It doesn't really interest me. There is no denying the ability of Oldman and the beauty in the movie. This doesn't have the clarity of a straight forward biopic or the energy of an exciting plot.