Review of A Late Quartet (2012) by Joel A — 22 Mar 2013

"Our instruments must, in time, go out of tune, each in its own and quite different way.".

A Late Quartet is a dramatization of the intertwining problems of the members of a string quartet: a film that ironically also is the main topic of the movie, a meticulously composed musical piece.

This wonderful albeit slow composition stroke just the right chords for me. When it comes to my personal musical taste, I am a bit indifferent with the classical genre: in certain moods, I can enjoy it, but I don't consider myself a lover or fan of the music. However, after seeing A Late Quartet at the PAC Film Festival, my appreciation of violin grew at least a little bit, especially because I could see what it was trying to do for the movie. As I mentioned, the film metaphorically resembles the main element of the story: it is a violin quartet. Frequently, it falls out of its regular pace, but returns from this with power every single time. This is what I found to be the main achievement of A Late Quartet. It effectively made the music a metaphor for the story.

If it wasn't for this stylistic addition to the story, the plot outline would have never been as smart as it was right now. Without this backbone, it would have been a relatively empty drama about an unrealistic turn of events. However, because of this classy take on what happens to the characters in the film, it feels much like a Victorian age drama - which still is quite disturbing at heart. A Late Quartet does not include love triangles, it features love quartets or even freaking pentagrams. Much of the film reminded me of Roman Polanski's Carnage with its witty dialogue and amazing acting. This film officially confirms it for me: Philip Seymour Hoffman is one of my favorite actors. For me, he convincingly stole the show in A Late Quartet, which is incredible, keeping in mind that he is in the same cast as Christopher Walken. I would never speak bad of Walken either though, he was almost just as stellar as Hoffman. Come to think of it, the cast was solid all round, making this depressing story not nearly as blue as it could have been. Again here, I am thankful for the metaphorical meaning of the quartet. The ups and downs that only the tones of a string instrument can transform into music might bring the movie's tone out of balance sometimes, but one way or another, it still felt very much as a whole.

In contrast to the rest of the film, I have a difficult time with bring the camerawork to words. It is undoubtedly beautiful, but I did have my problems with the pacing of the film. Although it worked for the concept of the movie, in the eye of arthouse, A Late Quartet is still quite slow - and that says something. Oddly enough, the classical score amplifies this. Don't get me wrong, the score was very well-done, but I think it is just me considering classical music too slow (I don't want to call it boring) that slowed the film down even more for me. I can imagine that this is different for others who are able to appreciate this genre of music more, so I highly recommend this film for anyone who considers him or herself to be a part of this group.

In sum, A Late Quartet is exactly like the classical piece that it discusses most: Beethoven's Opus 131. It is slow at times, played with quick passion sometimes (or attaque in pretentious terms) and all the more beautiful for a certain set of people. Even if you do not belong to this category, there is no denying that the screenplay is powerful. The audience distinction only brings this movie from a "good" to a "great" rating.

8-/10.