A Late Quartet (2012)

Members of a world-renowned string quartet struggle to stay together in the face of death, competing egos and insuppressible lust.

Director:

Yaron Zilberman

Writers:

Seth Grossman, Yaron Zilberman

Stars:

Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christopher Walken, Catherine Keener

Cast

Credited cast:
Catherine Keener	...	Juliette Gelbart
Christopher Walken	...	Peter Mitchell
Philip Seymour Hoffman	...	Robert Gelbart
Imogen Poots	...	Alexandra Gelbart
Wallace Shawn	...	Gideon Rosen
Mark Ivanir	...	Daniel Lerner
Liraz Charhi	...	Pilar
Madhur Jaffrey	...	Dr. Nadir
Kevin Cannon	...	Actor
Nina Lee	...	Nina Lee
Anne Sofie von Otter	...	Miriam
Megan McQuillan	...	Brenda
Jasmine Hope Bloch	...	Cello Student
Rebeca Tomas	...	Flamenco dancer
Marty Krzywonos	...	Cab Driver

Storyline

After a classical string quartet's 25 years of success, Peter, the cellist and oldest member, decides that he must retire when he learns he has Parkinson's Disease. For the others, that announcement proves a catalyst for letting their hidden resentments come to the surface while the married members' daughter has disruptive desires of her own. All this threatens to tear the group apart even as they are famous for playing Beethoven's String Quartet No. 14, opus 131, a piece that is played non-stop no matter how life interferes.

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Plot Keywords:

String Quartet | Instrument Maker | Marital Infidelity | Concert | Classical Music | 

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Taglines:

No arrangement is more beautiful...or more complicated.

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Genres:

Drama | Music

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and some sexuality

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [jp]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 November 2012 (Canada)

Also Known As:

Keylim shluvim

Filming Locations:

Metropolitan Museum of Art, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$75,279 (USA) (2 November 2012)

Gross:

$1,561,577 (USA) (8 March 2013)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Opening Night Productions, Concept Entertainment, Unison Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Sotheby's David Redden appears as the auctioneer in the film's auction scene.

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Goofs

In the final concert scene, when Peter is unable to continue, he lays his cello on its side next to his chair and comes forward to address the audience. During the course of his remarks, he introduces his replacement cellist, Nina, who is seen in the background taking Peter's seat with her own instrument. When the quartet resumes playing the piece, Peter's cello has vanished, even though the scene is presented as a single take and neither Peter nor a stage hand is shown removing the instrument.

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Quotes

Juliette Gelbart: Why are you so angry with me? What did I do to cause you to talk to me in this way? I mean, did we just spoil you too much? Is that what it is?
Alexandra Gelbart: Do you think I had fun? Do you think it was fun growing up with two roving quartet players as parents? Who were gone 7 months of the year and I was always taking a back seat to a violin and a viola? Always. Is that fun? Does that seem fun to you?
Juliette Gelbart: You have always been our first priority.
Alexandra Gelbart: That is bullshit! That's bullshit, that's just words. That's ...

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Connections

Featured in Maltin on Movies: Identity Thief (2013)
Movie reviewed in this episode.

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Soundtracks

"Marietta's Song from Die Tote Stadt (The Dead City)"
Written by Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Performed by Anne Sofie von Otter
Bengt Forsberg - Piano, Kjell Lysell and Ulf Forsberg - Violins
Mats Lidström - Cello, Nils-Erik Sparf - Viola
Courtesy of Deutsche Grammophon

User Reviews

A Late Quartet--Review

As the film opens and the four members of the renown, Manhattan based Fugue string-quartet grace their humble audience and stage, they slowly bow…and the film cuts.

Like so many movies before it, the film starts where it ends.

Like a cheap, brand new suit or a stuffy high-brow gala, Yaron Zilberman's A Late Quartet is a fine piece of high cultured entertainment with low-brow issues.

Graced with fine classical music and an impeccable musical score from Angelo Badalamenti, the music is just the setting for a simple story of passion and love. But the twist in the narrative as the film unfolds, is not the love and passion the quartet shares for one another, but rather a sizzling passion for the sounds and beauty of classical compositions.

Like any hobby or refined passion, A Late Quartet is a showcase of how music affects the lives of people who allow them to be engulfed by the mesmerizing strings of some of the greatest musicians to have ever lived.

Once together, the Fugue is a metaphor of beauty, wisdom and harmony; consisting of a group of people who are diverse both physically and emotionally. The members of the quartet include violin I and perfectionist Daniel Lerner (Mark Ivanir); violin II and the emotional impulse of the quartet Robert Gelbart (Philip Seymour Hoffman); viola and the sensible lone female composer Juliette Gelbart (Catherine Keener); and finally the glue and backbone of the quartet, aging cellist veteran and mentor to all three players Peter Mitchell (Christopher Walken).

Upon learning of his weary health and the early signs of Parkinson's disease, Peter must share with the quartet his illness and impending future of the group. His influence goes far beyond what he brings to the stage, since he and his recently deceased wife Miriam (Anne Sofie von Otter) raised Juliette from an early age as an orphan. And his teachings of classic music to Daniel as a student makes his departing the quartet emotionally straining and difficult for everyone.

As the option to find another cellist arises and the chance for the group to evolve as they approach their quarter-century anniversary, Robert sees this as an ideal opportunity to play switching roles as violin I and II—with hesitation from the obsessed Daniel and his nonsupporting wife Juliette.

What transcends from the melodrama between these people and the struggles they face as a group of human beings, putting aside their passion for classical music, is a portrait of love, lost and acceptance. The film plays as a modern-day fable to unleash one's passion and wonderful moments of fulfilling your dreams with realities.

A Late Quartet may be a heightened sense of melodramatic wonder, thanks to the highly emotional and super sensitive Sting Quartet No. 14 by Beethoven in the film's finale or the wonderful sounds of the Brentano String Quartet playing on behalf of the Fugue. Nonetheless, a few things are certain.

A Late Quartet is a masterclass in acting for all four masterful and meticulous actors.