Da da da dum. The four-note motif that opens Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 is one of the most instantly recognizable in the classical canon. As the composer himself famously stated, it was the sound of fate knocking on the door.
Except, well, he probably never said that. The words were reported by Anton Felix Schindler, Beethoven’s one-time secretary, biographer and a notorious fibber. Once regarded as an authority on the composer’s life and work, Schindler is now known to have destroyed and doctored many of the notebooks that Beethoven used for communicating with people after losing his hearing — in an attempt both to whitewash the great man’s reputation and to give himself a more prominent role in the official narrative.
It’s a fascinating story, albeit an unlikely choice for a Japanese-language movie, especially one that’s being marketed as a comedy. “Faking Beethoven” is based on a 2018 nonfiction book by Shiho Kagehara, which has been adapted by comedian Bakarhythm and director Kazuaki Seki, with an all-star cast flouncing in wigs and frills through digital recreations of 19th-century Vienna.
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