Eroica (2003)

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

I stumbled across this film being played on television. I figured that the TV guide had misspelled "Erotica", but as it turns out this is very much a G-Rated picture. It's almost a biopic, a bit more than a lengthy music video. It's an afternoon in the life of Ludwig von Beethoven, set to the music of his third symphony.The events of Beethoven's life seem compressed and shoveled into the 90 minutes of the film. We see how he deals with large issues like Napeoleonic politics, patronage, love, and hearing loss, as well as smaller issues like arranging music and the most efficient means of belittling his assistant.What I found fascinating was being able to see how the characters of the period responded to the music as it was being played. I have a distant knowledge of Beethoven's works, and while they are certainly powerful and turbulent, I lack the context of the music of the era. Seeing the patrons react to various passages of the music (which to my untrained ear just sounds pretty) and hearing them comment on the work as it progressed was for me highly illuminating.What a thrill it would be to be able to walk around an orchestra as it plays! That would be the ultimate in surround sound! I was jealous of the characters as they mingled around the players, who from what I can tell were using period-correct instruments.

Eroica is a well done blending of film and symphony concert. Beethoven was a rebel pushing against the social status quo in his life and with his music. How we hear this symphony today is so completely different that it is nearly impossible to imagine how it seemed to those hearing this kind of music for the first time. This film helped me to do that.I have had the great honor of performing this masterpiece when I was a student at Duquesne University, so it's always like coming home when I hear this piece. This film gave me an opportunity to visit it with fresh eyes and ears.One thing I have to complain about is the usual one, the violas nearly always get short shrift when orchestras are filmed, but this is a small oversight in view of the entire movie.Well done!

One of the characters in this TV movie about the first repetition of Beethoven's Third says something like 'it's a work of quality but it's way too long'. If we are looking at the movie as to what it really is - a video clip around Beethoven's symphony we are inclined to say the same. Very good as a video clip, but too long for the genre.Sure, it's good quality music, and a great interpretation. Whoever loves classical music and Beethoven especially will love it. I did enjoy myself as a music lover, and the composition will not sound the same for me for a long time.But what about film lovers? They do not get too much from this movie. The script is based upon quite a unbelievable premise - never a symphonic work can be played almost without interruption and at such a level of quality with the musicians seeing the music for the first time. Certainly not a symphony of Beethoven! The characters around are, say and behave more or less the way you would expect them to do, maybe too much so. I was expecting to see the moment when Beethoven realizes Napoleon is not the liberator and ideal leader he though he is, and here it came the same day the piece was played for the first time. Come on. As a film 'Eroica' is no more than a well acted but boring British TV docu-drama. If you like Beethoven you must see it. If you do not like Beethoven you should avoid it.

First I must clear up one thing. I have been a fanatic of Beethoven's music, life and words for nearly 40 years. I remember receiving a flimsy plastic 45 rpm-shaped record, which was timed at 33-1/3, in the mail advertising his music and the music of others. What I will not forget is hearing those first few bars. I will never ever forget that moment. Two crashing chords and straight into the first melody. It made a profound influence on the course for the rest of my life. I've since become a dilettante composer and enthusiastic champion of the music of this greatest of masters.With that being said...I was brought into such a state of newfound discovery when I heard the Eroica again on this DVD. The Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique somehow has made an old friend sound brand new again. With the size of the noticeable orchestra being smaller than we are normally accustomed, and with the pronounced accentuation of the individual instruments, the sounds and the development of the themes were fresh.I enjoyed almost every performance in this film. It doesn't matter whose I didn't like. It really makes no difference. The presence of Ian Hart, Tim Pigott-Smith, Fenella Woolgar, Frank Finlay, Leo Bill, Trevor Cooper, the beautiful Claire Skinner, and mysterious Lucy Akhurst and gosh, even Victoria Shalet and Joseph Morgan made the whole affair quite an enjoyable experience and transformed this into a true ensemble of players.The effect of the cameras moving about was a stroke of genius. The camera swirled as the thoughts of the people present and listening swirled around the room.Enough cannot be said about IAN HART who really brought this together. Those of who the character of Beethoven so well should be pleased with his take. Here we have none of the scowling Beethoven smirks which plagued his later years. Here we still have a youthful, but adamant figure struggling to make his way into the world of Viennese society. Hart has cast a Beethoven in his prime though quite immediately after his "Heilegenstadt Testament" period of great sadness. He is young and he still bounce back and get back to the music. One instance of this bouncing back was quite remarkably placed near the end of the movie.To lovers of Beethoven, lovers of the Eroica, lovers of great music, lovers of historical dramas and fine period pieces, I recommend this film without reservation.