The documentary “Moonlight Sonata: Deafness in Three Movements” places the work of Ludwig van Beethoven in an intimately modern context. Like the storied composer at the end of his career, the filmmaker Irene Taylor Brodsky ’s 11-year-old son and her parents are deaf. In this sweet, but formally unimaginative film, deafness is observed through three generations: Brodsky’s child, her parents and, in brief animations, the long-gone artist.

Brodsky, who narrates much of the film, introduces her son Jonas as he receives cochlear implants, allowing him to clearly hear. Jonas learns to play the piano, and the film’s loose narrative follows his attempts to master Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata.” Jonas’s auditory fluency separates him from his deaf grandparents, Paul and Sally, who still derive meaning from sources other than sound.

Though Jonas is the film’s primary subject, Paul and Sally are its most striking characters. They have lived their lives content with their abilities, and they wonder at their grandchild whose experience is so different. In the film’s most memorable scene, Paul predicts there will be no deaf people in the future, and his manner indicates both awe and grief.

This film does not lack for love among its subjects. Brodsky’s family communicates across different abilities, and their dynamics are poignant to watch and consider. But as a filmmaker, Brodsky does not mirror the diversity of her home. She is dependent on sound, reliant on the voice-overs that contextualize her perspective. The frustrating result is that the film’s deaf subjects feel creatively and philosophically shortchanged. Even “Moonlight Sonata,” an extraordinary musical achievement by a person who could not hear his own composition, is never allowed to play out in full.

Moonlight Sonata: Deafness in Three Movements

Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes.