Coined by Aaron: wikimovie: A movie that makes you want to look things up on Wikipedia after watching it.
Last night's wikimovie was "Immortal Beloved," exploring the identity of the "great love of Beethoven's life," an unknown woman to whom he addressed three love letters in 1812.
Actually, Wikipedia proved rather sparse on the subject, but the letters themselves can be found here in German. Also see a scan of one page of one of the letters here; the handwriting is not exactly legible--if I didn't already know what it said, I'd never know from reading it.
This excellent site not only contains a translation, but lays out all the possibilities, notes the theory currently considered correct , and links to some sites discussing alternate theories. The author has a pretty scathing opinion of the movie's theory, but there's no denying it's a brilliantly concocted bit of speculation. The "revelation" at the end, and the subsequent piecing together of events is nothing less than excruciating, on a Shakespearean scale.
Moral of the story: communicate.
Aside from the historical mystery, the movie makes gorgeous use of Beethoven's music, especially the Ninth Symphony, which is used as a base for a beautiful montage of the young Ludwig fleeing his abusive father to float beneath the stars in a peaceful pond.
It also demands some excellent and difficult questions: how much of Beethoven's personal unpleasantness can be excused by his traumatic life? And how much can be forgiven by his genius? And, from![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
rslatkin, how much of his genius was caused by his traumatic life? Had his father not beaten him, would the world now lack the Ninth Symphony?
Last night's wikimovie was "Immortal Beloved," exploring the identity of the "great love of Beethoven's life," an unknown woman to whom he addressed three love letters in 1812.
Actually, Wikipedia proved rather sparse on the subject, but the letters themselves can be found here in German. Also see a scan of one page of one of the letters here; the handwriting is not exactly legible--if I didn't already know what it said, I'd never know from reading it.
This excellent site not only contains a translation, but lays out all the possibilities, notes the theory currently considered correct , and links to some sites discussing alternate theories. The author has a pretty scathing opinion of the movie's theory, but there's no denying it's a brilliantly concocted bit of speculation. The "revelation" at the end, and the subsequent piecing together of events is nothing less than excruciating, on a Shakespearean scale.
Moral of the story: communicate.
Aside from the historical mystery, the movie makes gorgeous use of Beethoven's music, especially the Ninth Symphony, which is used as a base for a beautiful montage of the young Ludwig fleeing his abusive father to float beneath the stars in a peaceful pond.
It also demands some excellent and difficult questions: how much of Beethoven's personal unpleasantness can be excused by his traumatic life? And how much can be forgiven by his genius? And, from
rslatkin, how much of his genius was caused by his traumatic life? Had his father not beaten him, would the world now lack the Ninth Symphony? Dans la bibliothèque: White Nights - Jim Butcher
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