QUARTET, Dustin Hoffman’s first directorial effort – at the tender age of 75 – is an unabashed love letter to all performers of a certain age – and he is aided and abetted by some of the cream of British thespian talent, including Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Billy Connolly and Pauline Collins.
Adapted by the prolific English writer Ronald Hardwood from his 1999 play, the film centers on the professional and personal rivalries of four ageing musicians – the luminaries mentioned above – who are reunited when Smith joins the other three by moving into an Beecham House, an enviably lush retirement home for musicians somewhere in the home counties (in reality Hedsor House in Buckinghamshire).
The script moves over familiar terrain as the four leads fight, bicker and finally pull it all together for an annual Verdi-themed charity performance – this time its Rigoletto – on which the home’s financial future depends. Jean is initially reluctant to participate – no surprise there – because she feels her voice is gone and she can only tarnish her once-great regpuation. Predictably old woulds are opened and old resentments rehashed, especially between Smith’s Jean and Courtenay’s Reg, who were briefly and disastrous married. Director Hoffman gives Smith license to unleash her very full repertoire of flared nostrils and withering stares as she delivers as only Maggie Smith can.
Of the other leading lights on display, Connolly plays Wilf Bond, a rare old goat, milking plenty of laughs from his saucy banter with the head doctor (Sheridan Smith), including gems about ‘vintage wine’ and ‘seasoned wood’. Collins is suitably daffy as Jeans’ trusted confidante Sissy, and we even get a fez-wearing Michael Gambon as the opera’s director Cedric to round out the talent on display.
There is an especially nice touch in the credits, which, to the strains of Verdi, feature photographs of all the actors in their youth, including background players who’ve been treading the London stage for decades. It’s a genuinely touching hall of fame for a vanishing world of performing arts, and as one Lon reviewer noted, “you’d have to have a heart of stone” to walk out before the tribute’s over.
Quartet: Directed by Dustin Hoffman. Starring Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Billy Connolly, Pauline Collins, Michael Gambon, Sheridan Smith and Andrew Sachs. Screenwriter: Ronald Harwood, based on his stage play Unrated. 103 minutes.
