better late than never to have seen this film

Lucky me, I found this film by chance. It was quite lengthy, but I watched the whole thing in one go.

I only know of this actor from this film so I'll have to look up his other roles (which I must do!).

What did Helmut Berger do exactly? Was he channeling Ludwig's ghost? Really, does anyone else think that Helmut as Ludwig happens to be bizarrely convincing?

I was extremely impressed. What a realistic potrayal that's beyond imitation - if you can call it potraying a character. I can't see the difference between the character or the actor at all.

If it matters, I watched it with Italian voice overs/English subtitles. Apparently, there's more than one version of the film?

I'd like to know, so I can try to purchase the original.