User Reviews

I'm not exactly a spoiler lover, however I feel there is a scene in this film I must describe to get to my point. If it's any consolation at all, the scene takes place very early on in the film, so I'm sure that will soften the blow. The scenario is a nocturnal view of a frozen plain: a small bunch of strange figures enter the frame, clad in long black mantles, as if they were coming straight out of Venice's world famous carnival, and, following the tempo of the background music, twirl harmoniously whilst carrying a coffin, at the centre of which a few candles are burning, creating the only source of light in the scene. The image is so chillingly haunting that it leaves you dumbstruck and appears to be setting the pace for a film dominated by the impetuous and mighty score borrowed from Beethoven's impressive repertoire, imposing itself as a painter of its own portrait through the big screen. Unfortunately, the audience is in for a disappointment: the film soon turns into practice material, a purely academic exercise set into motion by one who strives to reach intellectual perfection, pure theory concerning the chief systems of existence, and instead makes a false move, trapped by self-absorption and rhetoric. The characters are unpleasant, excessively loquacious and, what's most incomprehensible, given the seemingly glossy finesse spread throughout the whole film, really foul-mouthed, as if the audience thought they were going to see "Hustle and Flow". It's truly a shame that John Hurt had to be involved in all of this, because even his genuinely melancholic portrayal of eccentric professor Mondrian Kilroy is toned down by the pithy lines he has to deliver. All taken into account, Baricco's philosophical tour de force consists of nothing more than a far too carefully put together series of trivial symbolisms, deprived of a visceral bond with Beethoven's compositions, which in fact would have justified their basic nature. The music itself, cut and patched up at the director's will in the hope making the scenes more catchy, is never given the opportunity of becoming a stand-alone character in the story and remains an anonymous and disposable accessory. To tell the truth, it is in the extremely rare occasions in which Baricco puts aside his ego and allows a glimpse of music to shine by itself in a scene that what is dragged through an hour and three quarters without ever emerging finally takes place: pure and unconditional beauty. The choice is all yours...