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A Late Quartet2012 | 105 min | R | 2.39:1
Reviewed at the 2012 Twin Cities Film Fest Like any great film about music, “A Late Quartet” is hardly about music. A searing drama about the disintegration of a triumphant string quartet, the picture merely uses gorgeous chamber orchestra sounds as a method to express pain and frustration when the characters are unable to speak for themselves. Although it deals with an exclusive world of exceptional talent, screenwriters Seth Grossman and Yaron Zilberman (who also directs) keep matters accessible with subplots that detail mighty betrayals and domestic erosion. It’s a powerful feature, outstandingly acted and pleasingly measured, employing a sense of refinement to better emphasize the numerous violations and disappointments that litter the story. 
After 25 years and 3,000 performances playing together in the Fugue String Quartet, first violinist Daniel (Mark Ivanir), second violinist Robert (Philip Seymour Hoffman), his wife, violist Juliette (Catherine Keener), and cellist Peter (Christopher Walken) prepare for their anniversary season, daring to play Beethoven’s Opus 131 by memory. However, when Peter is diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, his wish to leave the quartet after their opening performance instigates further desires for change, with Robert hoping to switch positions with Daniel, a redistribution of power the first violinist won’t stand for. Disheartened by Juliette’s lack of understanding, Robert has a hasty affair with an admirer (Liraz Charhi), destroying his marriage during a difficult time of transition. Also disturbing the purity of the team is Daniel, who engages in an affair with Robert and Juliette’s daughter Alexandra (Imogen Poots), a flighty young woman unsure if a future as a violinist is best for her. “A Late Quartet” is deceptive with its atmosphere of sophistication. Focusing on the interplay of a beloved quartet, known around the world for their professional and personal harmony, the screenplay introduces the members with a certain regality, highlighting their instrumental gifts and integrity of sound. While I’m not a musician, it’s fascinating to watch the actors fake their way through the performance sequences, carrying a full-bodied seizure of musical delivery, miming without much in the way of noticeable flaws. It’s a fantasy that’s carefully mounted by Zilberman, who successfully submits the idea of these actors as virtuoso musicians on a tireless quest for perfection. I always believed in the quartet and their extended history as a cohesive unit. 
Away from the music, “A Late Quartet” returns to more universal concerns, observing the team reduced to quarreling enemies once Peter announces his retirement and the start of his journey into possibly debilitating medication. From there, the script touches on some formulaic acts of desperation, including infidelity, with Robert drowning his sorrows in the bed of an Indian dancer, a betrayal quickly uncovered by Juliette, leading to an explosion of confessions and communication after years of professional hibernation. Less effective is the subplot with Daniel and Alexandra, primarily due to Poots’s overly juvenile performance, which often brings the twentysomething down to the level of a 12-year-old. In a cast of unbelievably strong, nuanced performances, Poots is the odd woman out, unable to articulate a troubled emotional fury within Alexandra without reaching beyond her grasp. Sordid sexual offenses begin to snowball, yet “A Late Quartet” doesn’t get too carried away, keeping tabs on the prison of performance that’s locked these four together. Hoffman, Keener, Ivanir, and Walken are just marvelous with group scenes and individual moments of awakening, generating a revealing look at the professional process of chamber orchestra life, while inspecting the particulars of personal mistakes, lustful appetites, and regrets the arrive with years spent devoted to a career in sonic nourishment. It’s stellar work all around, with Hoffman just perfect when Robert is backed into a corner, contributing a few fantastic emotional explosions that knock the movie off-balance. 
“A Late Quartet” isn’t an expose on the lives of musicians; it’s a heightened drama with patience, elegance, and a few solid punches. It’s also respectful of quartet sounds, always paying attention to the orchestral glue that binds these characters. Even at their worst, the challenge of Beethoven is there to bring these great artists and their flawed lives together. Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Christopher Walken, Mark Ivanir, Imogen Poots, Wallace Shawn Director: Yaron Zilberman » See full cast & crew |
 
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