I must first confess that I have an unrequited love affair with Maggie Smith. I first fell in love with her in 1969's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie ("Give me a girl at an impressionable age, and she is mine for life."). She enchanted me as Peter Pan in London, Christmas 1972. As I have aged, she has matured, but I still find her fascinating, whether in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, or Downton Abbey or Harry Potter. Her long history of work (over 73 titles to her credit) make it an easy leap to accept her Jean Horton, a retired diva with a lengthy career facing her "declining" years in a retirement home for musicians.
One could make easy jokes about how Quartet is a comedy-drama of wrinkles for the Marigold set (of which I find myself). Bette Davis' line about how "old age is not for sissies" reinforces the survivor status of all the characters living in the home, but like a beautiful ship of state, Beechem House (actually Hedsor House and Park, Taplow, Buckinghamshire, England), provides for its retirees a glamorous refuge from the world. Jean arrives to find three former friends also live at the house, Pauline Collins (Cissy), Billy Connolly (Wilf), and Tom Courtenay (Reginald). Reggie and Jean had been married for a brief while and still have not made up.
The staff, wanting to save the house, are planning a gala to celebrate Verdi's birthday, where all the retired musicans will have a chance to perform. Can they get the four former friends who performed in Riggoletto together to do the quartet they performed in their youth? You probably already know the answer. But in a film like this, getting there is the fun of the movie.
Novice director Dustin Hoffman gives us loving closeups of age at its best. The script may lacks great depth, but there are lingering moments of delight and pathos and a pleasant couple of hours entertainment.
One could make easy jokes about how Quartet is a comedy-drama of wrinkles for the Marigold set (of which I find myself). Bette Davis' line about how "old age is not for sissies" reinforces the survivor status of all the characters living in the home, but like a beautiful ship of state, Beechem House (actually Hedsor House and Park, Taplow, Buckinghamshire, England), provides for its retirees a glamorous refuge from the world. Jean arrives to find three former friends also live at the house, Pauline Collins (Cissy), Billy Connolly (Wilf), and Tom Courtenay (Reginald). Reggie and Jean had been married for a brief while and still have not made up.
The staff, wanting to save the house, are planning a gala to celebrate Verdi's birthday, where all the retired musicans will have a chance to perform. Can they get the four former friends who performed in Riggoletto together to do the quartet they performed in their youth? You probably already know the answer. But in a film like this, getting there is the fun of the movie.
Novice director Dustin Hoffman gives us loving closeups of age at its best. The script may lacks great depth, but there are lingering moments of delight and pathos and a pleasant couple of hours entertainment.
Quartet (2012) ****
No comments:
Post a Comment