# Films about composers, writers, artists, etc.



## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

I recently watched an excellent film called _Barton Fink_, about a talented playwright struggling to get the inspiration to write a boxing flick for Hollywood. Do you know of any other good films that explore the process of artistic creation?

(I would ask this on the film board, but it's too slowww...)


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## Guest (Dec 23, 2011)

_Copying Beethoven _ is an excellent movie with Ed Harris in the title role.


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

Haven't seen either of those...thanks for the recommends.


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## Chris (Jun 1, 2010)

One of my favourite Bette Davis films:






The composer is the man who has the accident with his glass (Claude Rains)


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## BradPiano (Dec 22, 2011)

Let us not forget Amadeus...


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

I like this particular clip, and you'll know why if you watch all the way through (it's about Shostakovich's early time in the Conservatory). It's a _little _bit historically incorrect. 

It's a little sad, but it's good.


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## BradPiano (Dec 22, 2011)

So this is one of my favorite parts of Amadeus:


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Chris said:


> One of my favourite Bette Davis films)


A friend recommended that to me a couple years ago, but he couldn't remember the title. Finally, now I can chase it down!


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Scott Hicks' fabulous movie "Shine" about pianist David Helfgott is one of my favourite films of all time.


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## Conor71 (Feb 19, 2009)

Impromptu is a great film and very witty - it portrays artists such as Chopin, Liszt and Georges Sand etc..


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## Lunasong (Mar 15, 2011)

^^I very much liked Chopin-Desire for Love, which I thought was much better than Impromptu. It is available from Netflix in either DVD or streaming.

Music and Lyrics is a cute movie about how to write a pop song...


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

I'm going to wilfully ignore the parameters of the OP (and so you can wilfully ignore this post  ) and post a documentary about Richard Feynman called _No Ordinary Genius_. He may well have been a physicist, but I have been increasingly obsessed with the art intrinsic to science lately, and there is no way you can call this man uncreative:


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

^^What do you mean by "the art intrinsic to science"?. The fact that some scientists have also interest in the arts (music, painting, literature, etc) or that always there is some "art" in the way scientists work in their fields?


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## Guest (Jan 2, 2012)

If we broaden this a bit to simply include classical music, I can recommend _The Red Violin_ and _Vitus_. Oh wait, _Immortal Beloved_ is another good movie about Beethoven. _Coco Chanel and Stravinsky_ is pretty good, but it's more about their relationship than his music; however, if memory serves, it does show the disastrous debut of The Rite of Spring and a few scenes of him composing.


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