Product Details

• Actors: Ian Hart, Jack Davenport, Tim Pigott-Smith, Claire Skinner, Anton Lesser
• Directors: Simon Cellan Jones
• Writers: Nick Dear
• Producers: Peter Maniura, Liza Marshall
• Format: Classical, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English (DTS 5.1), English (PCM Stereo), Italian (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, French, German
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Opus Arte
• DVD Release Date: June 21, 2005
• Run Time: 129 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000936H7S
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #34,759 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Eroica" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

BEETHOVEN:EROICA - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

62 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Beethoven Must See, June 26, 2005

By 

John H. Kilbourne "audio and music-phile" (Brunswick, Maine United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Eroica (DVD)

We may all know this piece, but to see the effect of this music on everyone from royalty to below-stairs staff lends insight into the music we could obtain no other way. The acting is awesome - there is a bit done by Timothy Piggott-Smith (Passage to India), perhaps a 60 second continuous take, that is Oscar-worthy all by itself and bears watching over and over, as the old warrior is overcome by the music's funereal second movement, perhaps recalling fallen comrades. Watch for it - it is overwhelming. And compare Jack Davenport in the role of Prince Lobkovitz here with his 180 degree role in (the real BBC) show Coupling, or Pirates of the Caribbean. Fennella Woolgar is suberb as his wife. Key, while there is indeed dialogue, much of the acting here is of necessity done with facial and bodily expressions only, since the entire symphony is performed. Watch what fine actors can do without a word spoken. The performance is visually as well as musically satisfying, because the actual musicians, not actors, are the players, and are duly credited. It is interesting to compare this John Elliott Gardiner reading with his on CD with the same orchestra - I swear, this is better! The only flaw - some may find the Beethovenian romance angle a bit hokey, but apparently even it is based on fact. A superb add-on is that after the dramatization, the entire symphony is presented again but this time without a break and with no dialogue; any spoken dramatic parts are replaced by watching what appears to be the original score, in time with the music. Only the BBC could have or would have lavished such production values and acting talent on one complete Beethoven Symphony. We are just glad they did. For people who love music, this is an astonishing masterpiece.

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Neither flesh nor fowl; neither history nor MTV., February 1, 2006

By 

T. Holland - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Eroica (DVD)

I am coming off a long evening of watching and rewatching this film, both beginning to end and piecemeal (sorting out thematic scenes). I had seen it a few times before, but hadn't systematically studied it. The film is neither a performance of the "Eroica" nor a historical pageant about Beethoven's biography, yet it manages to incorporate both of the above into something rather more ambitious. Incorporating a blazing performance of the symphony on period instruments into a reconstruction of its first performance at the Lobkowitz Palace, it manages to make a lot of statements about art, music, biography and history without ever being didactic. The acting is magnificent; understated and mostly mute, it characterizes Prince Lobkowitz and his wife, his arrogant aristocratic cousin, Haydn, various servants and musicians, and Beethoven's poor despised pupil in a few strokes of body language and fewer words. It combines historical fact with biographical speculation, without aggrandizing or overstating either. It's really a film about a moment in musical history, which is best encapsulated in Haydn's few comments towards the end of the film. The performances, both musical and theatrical, are terrific. On my first few viewings, I was bothered by the characterization of Beethoven (a bit too tentative, and too unpredictable in his moods). On further viewing, and further reflection, I think it fits perfectly. As a film biography of a musician and his work, it certainly beats anything else I've seen hands down (the creepy and silly "Amadeus," as exhibit A).

The last two movements of the symphony are played partially in background, behind wrapups of thematic sequences. At first this bothered me (why not play the whole symphony, and put the other material between or after movements?). In retrospect, after a few viewings, I think it puts the music, life, and history into the proper perspective: and after all, it's a film, not a music video.

Final thought: the performance of the symphony is wonderful!

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extrodinary insights, September 18, 2005

By 

J. Drake (Pennsylvania, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Eroica (DVD)

This has always been one of my favorite classical selections, and my favorite Beethoven symphony. I first stumbled into this movie near the middle one night just before turning in. Needless to say I ended up turning in much later.
My wife and I continue to watch this film from start to finish always coming away with a refreshed inner joy. The quality of the acting is superb, and the cutting from the orchestra to the characters throughout the house, and their reactions, adds so much to an old familiar piece. I highly recommend this to anyone who: loves music; loves film; loves Beethoven, and who loves a good story told well.
My only regret is that this format has not been applied to other such classics.