Beethoven Lives Upstairs

Toronto teacher Susan Hammond hatched Classical Kids in 1988, as an entertaining way to introduce youngsters to the lives of the world's great composers. Each audio title is a historical docudrama depicting a Bach, Mozart or Vivaldi as seen through the wide eyes of a juvenile companion. David Devine, a director of children's videos starring the acclaimed entertainer Raffi, found out about Classical Kids and helped transfer its Beethoven installment to the small screen. The result is a modest little picture that should indeed enlighten schoolchildren but doesn't push the envelope far beyond that.

Beethoven's Boswell is Christophe (Illya Woloshyn), adolescent son of a Viennese widow who rents out a spare floor to the celebrated composer (Neil Munro). Christophe is far from starstruck; the legendary Beethoven, dogged by deafness and personal problems, dresses like a tramp and acts like a lunatic. With his stocky frame, unkempt hair and rude manner, Beethoven makes an embarrassing association for Christophe as he mutteringly stomps up the stairs, throws things at the maid and, half-naked, scrawls his music on walls and windowshades. Christophe's Uncle Kurt (Albert Schultz) explains Beethoven's private pain, rooted in a miserable childhood and, of course, the hearing disorder that prevents him from savoring the incomparable melodies filling his own mind.

Christophe becomes Beethoven's admirer, occasional helper and companion on daily walks with the composer, who is struggling to complete his epochal Ninth Symphony. Though Christophe never knows whether he's in the temperamental man's good graces or not, Beethoven ultimately gives the boy and his mother tickets to the symphony's debut performance on May 7, 1824--a momentous occasion during which Beethoven, unable to sense the audience ovation behind him, continued to conduct after the piece had finished. It was, in fact, Beethoven's final public appearance. He died three years later, and the film ends with a brief flash-forward to Beethoven's funeral.

BEETHOVEN LIVES UPSTAIRS follows the audio version's narrative closely, almost slavishly so, and one wishes that a little more time and trouble had gone into expanding the scope. Beethoven's music soars almost continually as background music, which was fine for the recording but a little strange in a visual drama with so much ado over the fact that Beethoven can't hear. Only a minor attempt is made to describe what made his compositions great, and purists may rightly complain that there's too much emphasis on the icon-busting portrait of the artist as dysfunctional egocentric, a sort of AMADEUS for kids. Plus the real Beethoven's last years included a bitter, antagonistic relationship with a teenage nephew over whom the composer fought a custody battle, a biographical snippet conveniently overlooked in this kid-friendly drama.

Be that as it may, this incomplete sketch of Beethoven is better than none, and for young viewers it serves as a nicely accessible entry to the topic without condescension, meaning that adults can also watch without pain. Illya Woloshyn is a bright and personable young narrator, while well-known Canadian character actress Sheila McCarthy (I'VE HEARD THE MERMAIDS SINGING, BEAUTIFUL DREAMERS) does an amusing turn as the household's long-suffering maid, repeatedly seen dodging the angry maestro's missiles. As Beethoven, Neil Munro glowers, laughs and composes with equal fervor and avoids the temptation to be just silly. Director Devine uses Prague (where AMADEUS was also lensed) as an effective substitute for old Vienna, though he has a distracting habit of employing tilted camera angles a la the old "Batman" TV show to reflect Beethoven's anguished mental state.

Once BEETHOVEN LIVES UPSTAIRS was completed there were plans to adapt other entries in the Classical Kids series, with Vivaldi nominated as the most likely followup. leave a comment