Immortal Beloved (the story of Beethoven's life, with an emphasis on Essay

Immortal Beloved (the story of Beethoven's life, with an emphasis on romance - Essay Example er and life of the man whose letter contained the words of the title, Ludwig Van Beethoven, the famous composer of the late 18th/early 19th centuries. The film starts with Beethoven’s death. Schindler was his secretary and is charged with settling Beethoven’s final affairs. As he sorts through the various documents left behind, he discovers an old love letter, written in Beethoven’s hand, to someone he calls simple his ‘Immortal Beloved’. The woman is never provided with any further identification, but Schindler runs around Europe attempting to discover who this woman was. As he travels, he talks to many women who played a part in Beethoven’s life. Flashbacks from the women’s memories help to illustrate Beethoven’s life and reveal some of his brilliance, inspiration and imagination. His music provides the musical score. Through this exploration, a great deal is revealed about the composer and his times. The film portrays Beethoven as a sensitive madman, obsessed with his music and with women, in nearly equal order. As the movie is presented, it can be neatly divided into three main segments, each detailing the flashback memory of a different candidate for Beethoven’s beloved. In each one, some aspect of the composer is brought into sharper focus. While the focus of the story is on Beethoven’s love life, it also illustrates how he is also obsessed with the idea of turning his nephew Karl into his own prodigy. The battle that ensues over this child reaches epic proportions, finally forcing Countess Anna Maria Erdody to stand up against Beethoven in court. Besides this countess and Johanna, Karl’s mother, the other woman who is seen to play a big role in Beethoven’s life is Countess Giulietta Guicciardi, his patron and student. There are other women as well; making it difficult to determine just who Beethoven might have meant in his letter, but that is the point. The film, as in real life, never conclusively identifies one woman