Film Review: Copying Beethoven

Ed Harris' 2006 biopic hits some of the right notes.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

A bewigged Ed Harris scores in Copying Beethoven.
Photo © 2006 MGM/United Artists.

Copying Beethoven was barely noticed when it came out ten years ago. Released by MGM/UA, this 2006 film by Agnieszka Holland stars Ed Harris as the composer in his 54th year, battling deafness and inner demons as he struggles to finish the Symphony No. 9 in D Minor. The film is a fiction, pairing Beethoven with Anna Holtz (Diane Kruger) a 23-year old coal miner's daughter (no I'm not making that up) copyist and aspiring composer. She meets Beethoven when she is employed to correct and edit the players' parts four days before the premiere of the Ninth.