Beethoven's Nephew

Director: Paul Morrissey

1985 / 103min / 35mm

While a passionate admirer of Beethoven the artist, Morrissey, in his lavish period biopic, shot on location in Vienna, paints a less than flattering portrait of Beethoven the man, as played here by Wolfgang Reichmann, in the cantankerous, stone-deaf twilight of his life, asserting dictatorial control over the lone male issue of the three Beethoven brothers, Karl (Dietmar Prinz), whom he wrests away from mother Jane Birkin in an acrimonious custody battle. An outlier in Morrissey’s filmography in many regards, as much tragedy as comedy, and arguably his most personal work, depicting as it does an artist, like Morrissey, who was a control freak and lifelong bachelor with a pronounced prudish streak.

35mm print courtesy of the Paul Morrissey Films Trust

Distributor: Vinegar Syndrome

Introduction by writer Nick Pinkerton on Sunday, September 14th