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Poster for Copying Beethoven
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Released
2006 · FILM

Copying Beethoven

A deaf and reclusive Beethoven reluctantly enlists a young female conservatory student as his copyist, sparking a transformative collaboration that challenges his artistic legacy and personal resistance to change.

Runtime
104 min
BiographyDramaMusic

Synopsis

This fictionalized portrayal of Beethoven's life centers on his final days as he works on his Ninth Symphony in 1824. Struggling to complete the symphony, Beethoven faces the challenges of deafness, isolation, and personal hardship, having not experienced a major success in years. He urgently requires a copyist to assist with the composition. Anna Holtz, a fictional character and young conservatory student with aspirations as a composer, is introduced. Initially resistant to the idea of a woman being involved in his work, the unpredictable Beethoven gradually develops trust in Anna's abilities. By the time the symphony is performed, her presence becomes essential to him. Her keen insight into his music allows her to correct his errors, while her passionate nature helps open up his private world.

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How many hands made this film

The scale of the collaboration

Principal cast & crew: 19

These are the principals we have on file — the full crew ran to the hundreds. Every film this size was made by far more hands than any credits list ever names.

Why a floor?

This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.

Craft leads on file

Edited by Alex MackieShot by Ashley RoweDesigned by Caroline Amies

Box Office

2006 · Box office

📉 Underperformed — grossed 0.6× its budget

Why 2.5×?

Cinemas keep roughly half of every ticket sold, and a wide release’s marketing often costs about as much again as the film — so a movie needs to gross around 2.5× its production budget just to break even theatrically. It’s a rule of thumb, not the studio’s ledger (home video and streaming come later).

Worldwide gross

$6.2M

Budget$11.0M
Worldwide gross$6.2M
break-even (2.5×)

Also known as

  • Klang der Stillede
  • L'Élève de Beethovenfr
  • Io e Beethovenit

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