Dustin Hoffman debuts as director at the age of 75 with a British cast that's mostly just as old, and with a story that's set at a retirement home for musicians. QUARTET is certainly a film about the old age, however more than exploring deeply things like diseases or having thoughts about that period of life, it focuses on a pleasing (and quite nostalgic) love story.
In the film we get to see a resident being taken to the hospital (with serious health problems) and the dialogs of one of the protagonists indicates how much he hates being old; but all of this becomes secondary material to give some space to the main conflict of the movie: the reencounter between Reginald (Tom Courtenay) and Jean (Maggie Smith), two retired musicians that once were a married couple.
We could think in QUARTET as the opposite film of AMOUR (Michael Haneke, 2012), in which the protagonists are a couple of (retired, as well) music professors. These two are films with elements in common but nevertheless very different from each other – in AMOUR we have actually the end of a marriage.
One of the first elements that stand out is the comedy that's leaded by Billy Connolly, playing the character (Wilf) that hates getting old. Wilf is the classic funny old man who's "chasing" young girls all the time; in specific the beautiful doctor Lucy (Sheridan Smith). The other thing that identifies the movie is, obviously, the music – we get some performances and there's also memorable dialog about the connection between opera and hip-hop, for example.
This music thing becomes part of the structure that follows the formula of the romantic comedies – the idea for a little concert emerges and this could be the successful reunion of four musicians (Reginald, Jean, Wilf and other lady named Cissy) that once shared the glory, as well as a great monetary benefit for the retirement house, but as the formula dictates, a problem will appear.
QUARTET lacks of surprises and as it goes on it becomes more and more conventional, still some refreshing moments can be enjoyed. Besides, the main objective of Hoffman is always something respectable and noble – paying homage to music exponents that now are old persons. In a curious final credits sequence we see pictures with the "before and after" of said exponents, and that confirms the great interest of Hoffman to immortalize with a film the musicians and his very own love for opera and orchestral music.
*Watched it on 19 April, 2013
In the film we get to see a resident being taken to the hospital (with serious health problems) and the dialogs of one of the protagonists indicates how much he hates being old; but all of this becomes secondary material to give some space to the main conflict of the movie: the reencounter between Reginald (Tom Courtenay) and Jean (Maggie Smith), two retired musicians that once were a married couple.
We could think in QUARTET as the opposite film of AMOUR (Michael Haneke, 2012), in which the protagonists are a couple of (retired, as well) music professors. These two are films with elements in common but nevertheless very different from each other – in AMOUR we have actually the end of a marriage.
One of the first elements that stand out is the comedy that's leaded by Billy Connolly, playing the character (Wilf) that hates getting old. Wilf is the classic funny old man who's "chasing" young girls all the time; in specific the beautiful doctor Lucy (Sheridan Smith). The other thing that identifies the movie is, obviously, the music – we get some performances and there's also memorable dialog about the connection between opera and hip-hop, for example.
This music thing becomes part of the structure that follows the formula of the romantic comedies – the idea for a little concert emerges and this could be the successful reunion of four musicians (Reginald, Jean, Wilf and other lady named Cissy) that once shared the glory, as well as a great monetary benefit for the retirement house, but as the formula dictates, a problem will appear.
QUARTET lacks of surprises and as it goes on it becomes more and more conventional, still some refreshing moments can be enjoyed. Besides, the main objective of Hoffman is always something respectable and noble – paying homage to music exponents that now are old persons. In a curious final credits sequence we see pictures with the "before and after" of said exponents, and that confirms the great interest of Hoffman to immortalize with a film the musicians and his very own love for opera and orchestral music.
*Watched it on 19 April, 2013