quartet

i don’t know what’s with brit films but i always enjoy watching light dramatic films coming from this country. the latest to give me a good time is quartet, dustin hoffman’s directorial debut. set in a retirement home, quartet is about retired musicians, who are preparing for the annual concert celebrating verdi’s birthday. the future of the retirement home depends on the success of this annual gala. imdb says that this was then disrupted by the arrival of jean (maggie smith), the eternal diva and the former wife of reggie (tom courtenay), one of the residents.

like the best exotic marigold hotel, quartet has that warmth and vibrant feel... two adjectives that in normal circumstances will not be used to describe a movie on retirement, aging and twilight years. hoffman was able to put together a feature that shifts successfully from amusing to poignant in a solid manner. characters were well drawn out and the setting provided the required texture through contrasting themes such as friendships (bromance if you may, between wilf and reggie) and rivalry (jean vs. dame gwyneth), sexual tensions between the young and wild and rekindling an old love affair, health problems versus throwing-caution-to-the-air attitude, as well as great love for one’s craft and waning, almost insecure attitude towards a lifelong career. 

 

central to the success of the story is its wonderful ensemble piece, which made the film a true actors movie. it may be because dustin hoffman is also a wonderful actor, with his gifts clearly transcending behind the camera, guiding an outstanding assembly of some of britain’s who’s who in this art called film and stage acting. billy connolly played wilf, the flirtatious and joker of the bunch, with evident delight. tom courtenay’s reggie provided the counter balance to wilf as reggie was more of the quiet type, preferring long walks and was played with an hushed but endearing height. his scene with the visiting students was one of the film’s best, especially when he listened to rap and the student went into freestyle rapping. michael gambon (the other albus dumbledore) was the film’s other diva, the scene-stealer director of the annual concert who was a joy to watch hurling insults here and there under the premise of being artsy fartsy.

i wasn’t really familiar with pauline collins as i haven’t seen her in any significant outings in the previous years. in quartet however, she obviously provided the heart-rending nub of the story. her cissy is that likeable character who loves life and is always looking to its everyday beauty even in her twilight years. cissy of course is suffering from dementia’s advancing stages and collins essayed the character with versatility, from inadvertent comedy to uncertainty and all the way to innocent or pure trust. we all know that maggie smith can play snooty grand dowager countesses even when she’s asleep so her grand diva jean was altogether not new. what’s impressive with jean was dame maggie injected an unexpected vulnerability in the character, even charismatic and girlish at times, especially during her exchanges with courtenay.

 

the movie was by no means perfect. for one, we did not even see the quartet lip synch the rigoletto and some even said that jean and reggie’s love story was dull. for me however, the movie was a delight to watch from start to finish. it provided that restrained joy of retirement, not awkward incredulity brought on by frustration or regret. it had a healthy dose of sentimentality, witty exchanges and was armed with lovely music. i was definitely entertained.