Ludwig van Beethoven in film

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Beethoven has been the subject of many films and TV shows about his life. In the silent era, there was a lost French film called Beethoven mentioned in 1913 and at least six more silent films before 1927. The 1927 Austrian film The Life of Beethoven stars Fritz Kortner as Beethoven.

Many other films followed over the years. Un grand amour de Beethoven (1936) was directed by Abel Gance. Albert Bassermann played Beethoven in The Great Awakening (1941), and Steven Geray played him in Heavenly Music (1943). The 1949 Austrian film Eroica tells about his life and music and was shown at Cannes. A 1954 East German documentary simply called Beethoven presents his life with documents, letters and music. Erich von Stroheim played Beethoven in Napoléon (1955).

In 1962, Disney produced The Magnificent Rebel, a largely fictional TV movie about Beethoven with Karlheinz Böhm as Beethoven; it premiered on TV and later reached European cinemas. The composer Mauricio Kagel made Ludwig van (1969), a two-part film with an unusual, flexible score. Beethoven – Days in a Life (1976) follows his life in Vienna from 1813 to 1819.

Beethoven’s Nephew (1985) was a French-German production with Wolfgang Reichmann as Beethoven. In Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989), Beethoven appears as a humorous historical figure. Beethoven Lives Upstairs (1992) is a Canadian TV movie that won an Emmy for children’s programming. Gary Oldman played Beethoven in Immortal Beloved (1994), a drama about the famous “Immortal Beloved” letters.

The 2003 BBC/Opus Arte film Eroica dramatizes the 1804 premiere of the Eroica Symphony, with Ian Hart as Beethoven. A 2005 BBC miniseries also features Beethoven. Beethoven’s Hair (2005) is a docudrama tracing a lock of his hair and the mysteries of his life. Copying Beethoven (2006) stars Ed Harris as Beethoven in a fictional take on the making of the Ninth Symphony. The 2020 film Louis van Beethoven uses three actors to show Beethoven at different ages, with Tobias Moretti playing the adult Beethoven.