Review: 'Louis Van Beethoven' Peers into the Mysteries of a Genius

"Louis Van Beethoven" is a German film by Niki Stein about the life of world famous composer and classical musician in the European, colonialist style Ludwig Van Beethoven by Niki Stein. This December marks the 250 anniversary of Beethoven's birth. The film begins in his childhood in Bonn, Austria and ends as Beethoven (Tobias Moretti, Anselm Bresgott, and Colin P�tz) ventures to Vienna a second time to study with composer Joseph Haydn while capturing the essence of his three compositional periods.

Moretti looks strikingly like Beethoven. He does a fine job of playing the titular character, but is in no small way aided by their shared features. Of the three people playing the composer, the best work comes from P�tz. He is allowed a full range of emotions because he is a child in an adult's emotionally constipated world. He doesn't get to coast on his looks. Baby Beethoven had to face his mother's death, his father's alcoholism, and impending poverty, all while learning music at a time when most people couldn't read. P�tz manages all of this aplomb.

Beethoven was not only deaf but suffered from severe tinnitus, the perception of noise or ringing in the ears. He was deaf, had a constant clanging in his ears, and still composed his genius Ninth Symphony. To the gratitude of many viewers, "Louis Van Beethoven" does not share the adult Beethoven's experiences with this condition. The viewer might be too focused on the sensory chaos to absorb the film.

Yet, it is unfortunate that the filmmakers didn't include some mention of Beethoven's tinnitus as it grants musicians and non-musicians an understanding of the conditions he composed under. He is depicted by the film and antiquity as an arrogant, highly irritable man. Given his circumstances and his genius, we can forgive him.

Musicologists and historians will have a field day arguing over the scenes in which a young Ludwig Van Beethoven blindly follows and gawks as an adult Mozart soaks up the attention like a sponge. Mozart mumbles arias from "Don Giovanni."

Various historic accounts of whether a seventeen-year-old Beethoven met a thirty-one-year old Mozart exist. ClassicFM.com says that Beethoven went to Mozart's home in Vienna with a letter of introduction from Elector of Cologne Max Franz. This article continues that Mozart was unwell, but asked Beethoven to play the piano.

Mozart is quoted as saying to his wife Constanza about the young man Beethoven, "Watch out for that boy. One day he will give the world something to talk about." The story continues that Mozart was to teach Beethoven in Vienna until an urgent letter from Beethoven's father rushed Ludwig home to Bonn. Beethoven's mother was dying of tuberculosis. Beethoven returned to Vienna in 1792. By which time, Mozart was dead.

Other famous accounts such as one from cmuse.org reject a possible meeting between Mozart and Beethoven. Mozart was teaching musician Joseph Hummel, and would take no other students. History does not know for certain whether the two famous men even met. Speculation continues to this day.

"Louis Van Beethoven" takes place in a reality where Beethoven and Mozart not only met, but Mozart took full advantage of Beethoven's awe of him. We're shown a brief scene in which young Ludwig is copying Mozart's illegible sheet music onto clean paper well into the night. A job that we see adult Beethoven allocate great amounts of money for in previous and then later scenes. It's cute that the makers of this film showed us that Beethoven learned this lesson the hard way.

This film addresses the Immortal Beloved mystery by not directly addressing it at all. A teenage Beethoven (Anselm Bresgott) gives piano lessons to his patron's daughter, Eleonore von Breuning (a radiant Caroline Hellwig). She develops a crush on commoner Louis. Her noble rank and the monarchy keep them apart, but not before she gifts Louis a miniature portrait of her likeness. It is plausible that an exchange like this could explain the ten-page letter Beethoven wrote to an unnamed woman before his death in 1827. Honestly, the 1994 movie with Gary Oldman is more fun. There is as much credible evidence for both: None.

"Louis Van Beethoven" is available on demand and via virtual screenings in collaboration with local theaters on December 16, 2020.