Best use of Beethoven's music in a major motion picture for the year 2010?
The countdown begins -- four blinks of a red light followed by steady red. Bertie's fear is agonizing to watch.
And then this: As Firth struggles at first, we hear the ominous chugging of musical chords. Moments later, the calm, gentle Allegretto of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony spreads over the pulsing rhythm. The melody is smooth, unruffled, an aural metaphor for Bertie's aspirations.
With Logue silently prompting him through the difficult spots, the sweet, melancholic music unfolds, building in intensity, then subsiding, lasting exactly as long as the speech.
