Intermezzo

Am watching, over the course of two nights (because I don't have time to watch a whole film in one sitting these days) the movie "Immortal Beloved."  I saw it when it first came out, and loved it.  Now--I'm not sure what I think...

Who was Beethoven?  No one really knows, not even with all these letters and biographical tidbits...the "Immortal Beloved" letter was a huge piece of the puzzle--but the fact is that we do not know to whom the letter was addressed...

Beethoven has been such a huge part of my life, going back to when I was six or so (the same age my son is now) and listened obsessively to a recording of several of his pieces, called (absurdly) "Best of Beethoven."  It included the last movement of the 9th Symphony, the last movement of the Emperor Concerto, and the "Wellington March."  I also read a children's biography of the composer.

If I compare this movie with another, more lighthearted film, "Intermezzo," I feel that in some ways, "Intermezzo" provides a more satisfying peek into a composer's life--in "Intermezzo"'s case, Chopin's and Liszt's.  Hugh Grant never received enough credit for his portrayal of Chopin in "Intermezzo." I don't think he ever really attempts to subsume himself in the real, historical Chopin; but in one scene, when his Chopin is telling George Sand that he might be too fragile for her--and Mr. Grant does his usual charming-awkward act, but with so much feeling and introversion--in that one scene I felt that he captured something about Chopin that was so important, it gave me a new insight into the composer's music.

There's another priceless scene; Chopin brings Liszt his new, as-yet-unpublished Etudes, and as Liszt begins to play Opus 25 Number 1 by sight (flawlessly of course), and Chopin and Liszt are attempting to talk about it, Liszt's wife, who had been trying to get her husband's attention, suddenly screams at him, and the ecstatic rippling notes come to a halt.  The idea of Liszt's first performance of an immortal Chopin piece being interrupted in this way is just hysterical; it's one of my favorite scenes in the movies, period.  And I think that one scene captures something important about those two composers--about their ability to shut out the chaos of their daily lives when they composed their masterpieces.

Because "Intermezzo" aimed lower, it was, in a way, more satisfying than "Immortal Beloved." Good movies about composers are extremely rare, and both of these films are good movies about composers--but "Immortal Beloved" strives to be great, and doesn't quite make it.