Review of Quartet (2012) by Christopher Llewellyn R — 25 Jan 2013

This was a delightful movie, if very much in a derivative spirit and similar to last year's "Best Exotic Marigold Hotel." I'm calling it "Best Eccentric Musicians' Hotel," because, like that other film, it follows the story of a group of elderly retirees who are looking to go not so gently into that good night. In search of second chances, re-dos, and even inappropriate first chances (dirty old man alert!), the aging musicians who find themselves at Beecham House are an entertaining bunch. And in spite of some occasionally hoary and expositional (my spell-check tells me this isn't a word - I say phooey, it is now!) dialogue in the beginning, the film works on almost every level, leaving you profoundly moved - to laughter and tears - at the end. And isn't that what art is for, to provide cathartic experiences? I think so.

This film is also Dustin Hoffman's directorial debut. And what a fine way he has with his fellow actors. The four leads - Tom Courtenay, Billy Connolly, Pauline Collins, Maggie Smith - are all excellent, as are most everyone else, including the non-actor actual musicians who round out the cast.

Based on a stage play of the same name by Ronald Harwood, the story centers on the impending closing of Beecham House, an English retirement home for musicians, for lack of funds. To celebrate Verdi's upcoming birthday, the residents - all former stars of opera, symphony, cabaret, etc. - plan to put on a fundraising concert. The self-appointed leader of this somewhat ragtag group, played by Michael Gambon, decides that the best thing to raise the profile of the event is to bring back together the four singers who performed a celebrated rendition of the quartet from Verdi's "Rigoletto." The only problem is that two of them - Courtenay and Smith - are barely speaking to each other after a lifetime of jealousy and betrayal.

This being a feel-good dramedy, with emphasis on the latter half of that hybrid word, you can guess how it ends. Old wounds are mended, witty barbs and musical jokes are thrown around, and much fun is had in the doing of it all. Frothy it may be, and perhaps a little self-indulgent in its enjoyment of its leads' performances, but it is a film worth seeing, particularly if you enjoy even one of the actors in it.

Too bad Dustin Hoffman, now 75, waited so long to get behind the camera!