Quartet (2012)
Certified: PG
Duration: 98 minutes
Directed by: Dustin Hoffman
Starring: Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Billy Connolly, Pauline Collins, Michael Gambon, Sheridan Smith, Andrew Sachs, Dame Gwyneth Jones, Trevor Peacock
KRS release

Quartet is set in the Beecham House for Retired Musicians. The place is run by Dr Lucy Cogan (Sheridan Smith), who attempts to keep all the residents on the go and happy at the same time.

Hoffman has essentially delivered a crowd-pleaser that boasts an impressive cast

But Jean Horton (Maggie Smith), who had once been a well-known opera singer, is one unhappy resident: she did not want to leave her home and came to the home unwillingly.

Cedric Livingston (Michael Gambon) wants to organise a concert featuring the residents at Beecham in order to raise funds for the house. However, his show hits dire straits when the lead singer falls out due to sickness. This is where he sees an opportunity in Jean but she does not reciprocate for various reasons.

First of all, it has been a long time since she last performed and she fears her voice is no longer the same; her reputation is at stake. Secondly, her ex-husband, Reggie (Tom Courtenay) – whom she had cheated on – is part of the quartet doing the show.

The other two members of the quartet, Cissy Robson (Pauline Collins) and Wilf Bond (Billy Connolly), try their utmost to get the other two around so that the concert can go on.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012) showed that there is a mature audience who does not need action, pin-up girls or vampires to have a good time. Quartet simply continues to drive home this idea in a really nice and charming manner.

Quartet also marks Dustin Hoffman’s directorial debut, which has been a long time coming. Hoffman has essentially delivered a crowd-pleaser that boasts an impressive cast and, most of all, shows it loves its subject: art in whatever form it may take.

The characters that populate the film’s storyline face a number of problems as their quality of life is slowly deteriorating but the film moves along with an under-lying thread of humour and self-awareness.

Hoffman worked from a script by Ronald Harwood – who had also scripted the play on which this film is based – and managed to find the right balance between humour and gravitas.

The cast is given quite free rein and it seems that Hoffman, an actor himself, concentrated on providing the right visual environment for them to roam in.

Smith is simply spot on and anyone who got used to her in Downton Abbey will see a different characterisation at Beecham. The rapport that is present on screen between her and Courtenay is very tangible and the film milks every drop it can from it.

Connolly is his usual boisterous self and Collins has some hard-hitting moments.

All in all, the film has both heart and courage, is sugary and yet intimate; so it is very difficult not to feel rewarded after watching Quartet.

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