From left, Billy Connolly, Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay and Pauline Collins are determined to go down singing.
By Linda Barnard
Movies Writer
Starring Pauline Collins, Billy Connolly, Tom Courtenay and Maggie Smith. Directed by Dustin Hoffman. 98 minutes. Opens Jan. 18 at major theatres. PG
Dustin Hoffman’s directing debut, Quartet is a bit shameless in its approach, but for those who enjoy a whimsical drama that includes scenery chewing from grand dames and hammy fellows, it’s a welcome if often predictable treat.
This gentle comedy about life in Beecham House, a British county home where retired musicians are put out to pasture while refusing to extinguish their creative sparks, is based on Oscar winner (The Pianist) Ronald Harwood’s 1999 play of the same name.
Thanks to Hoffman, it boasts well-crafted dialogue for a cast that’s about as good as it gets when it comes to actors of a certain age: Maggie Smith, fresh from collecting bouquets for The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and dispensing brickbats in Downton Abbey, is joined by Tom Courtenay (The Dresser), Scottish funnyman Billy Connolly (Mrs. Brown) and Pauline Collins (Shirley Valentine).
Former opera stars Wilf (Connolly), Cissy (Collins) and Reggie (Courtenay) are beavering away with the rest of the musical seniors on the home’s annual gala fundraising concert. When legendary diva Jean Horton (Smith) reluctantly arrives to stay, they think they may be able to reunite what was a London operatic dream team and wow the audience with their famous quartet from Rigoletto.
Fat chance, according to waspish Jean, horribly shamed to have ended up at Beecham House. But her acid tongue deflects from her real fear: she can’t sing like she used to and high notes elude her. She’d flounce off, but her cane makes that difficult.
Sweet and simple Cissy is eager to befriend her again, reminiscing about their years on the opera stage together, but Jean nastily rebuffs her. Reggie, who has a curious history with Jean, is clearly still smarting. Only Wilf, a bottom pincher and public urinator who blames his lapses in decorum on a stroke removing his social filters (don’t you believe it) can seem to sweet-talk Jean, but the effects rarely last.
READ MORE: http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/movies/article/1316647--quartet-review-beautiful-music
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