A Late Quartet
Dir: Yaron Zilberman
2012
****
A Late Quartet approaches the ideas of control, passion, restraint and all those things you'd expect from a classically trained world performer. How does the mind work of someone who can not only remember the intimate details of a musical masterpiece but who can also play them perfectly. The simple answer is that's its not always easy, they are only human after all. Not that this ever turns into a cliched film about failed genius, mental health issues such as autism/aspergers etc nor is it an American take on the French farce. Not at all thank goodness. It is a character piece looking at each person as an individual and as a group and where that group dynamic works and fails. It is all about the performances. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christopher Walken, Catherine Keener and Mark Ivanir are the perfect Quartet of actors to tell the story. Certain characters and sub-plots are a little unnecessary I thought but overall it was never formulaic. I have a rule that I never watch the same film twice but I think I will make an exception for this film.