A Late Quartet

R

Released Nov 2, 2012

1 hr. 45 min.

Drama

List

77%

112 Reviews

Tomatometer

71%

5,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

For 25 years, the Fugue, a string quartet, has wowed music-lovers with its skilled performances. However, as the musicians prepare to celebrate a milestone season together, cellist Peter (Christopher Walken) drops a bombshell on his comrades: he has Parkinson's disease and must soon retire. In the fallout from the shocking announcement, competing egos clash, long-simmering resentments bubble to the surface, and marital infidelity rears its ugly head.

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Critics Consensus

An outstanding ensemble cast lends weight and depth to A Late Quartet's melodramatic script, and the result is insightful and emotionally satisfying.

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Ethan T

A mediocre, at times good film that could have been great. I felt that the script was formulated with great care for the music. The musical sequences are wonderful (contrasting to the usual horrific ones we see all too often where the actors clearly haven't been given any instruction), and the film felt as if it were written by and for musicians... for the most part. I do wish that the film had remained about the music, as the original storyline concerning an aging cellist struggling with Parkinson's was by far the strongest. As the film progresses, though, it becomes a melodrama built upon the backdrop of these professional classical musicians, rather than a preferred inversion that would have improved the experience for me. Let's keep with the positives. Christopher Walken was excellent, playing a sane man and a voice of reason to the growing drama around him. Hoffman performs with a reliable commitment. I thought that his desire for love, affection, and acceptance manifested into his dealings with other characters in an intelligent form. Keener and Ivanir do alright for themselves, but the story falls apart when the focus falls from Walken. The infidelity plotline involving Keener and Hoffman's marriage seemed serviceable as long as it didn't take center stage, but the romance between Ivanir and Poots was nonsensical and deserves a more full dissection. I could not stand Poots's character. At first I thought it might be her accent feeling unnatural, as a Brit playing an American. Then, I thought that perhaps her unnuanced, careless, boring performance as a snarky teenager was the problem. Eventually, I just realised that her character was written with none of the nuance, motivation, or path that I desired. She's simply just there. Every time we see her on the screen is time wasted. Who cares at all about her simply creepy romance with a man who has been part of a string quartet with her parents before she was born. We have no real buildup to the relationship; we are just supposed to lap up the drama like any soap opera fan on the hunt for brainless entertainment. The film's resolution was nothing of the sort. We have no idea of the termination of the conflicts between Daniel and Robert or Robert and Jules. You could stick any of the main four together and have no sense of where the character arcs in relation to one another completed. This is not a problem when it adds depth to the film to allow the viewer to assume for themselves and rejoice in creative freedom, but here it felt lazy. We are forced to spend more time on the melodrama away from Walken than with the music, but the film begins and ends with this music. Does this mean that we should not care about the characters, and only the music? Clearly not, because far too many of the conflicts could take place with any profession, characters, or settings. This film could have been so much more.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

04/09/21

Full Review

Audience Member

Too many films, including this messy love quintet, having to do with Beethoven's music mistake his manic depressive pathos for a melodramatic soap opera.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Moving and brilliant. Whoever coached the actors on fake-playing their instruments deserves an award. If you liked the movie, check out Beethoven's other string quartets.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/28/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Sublime music and a cathartic climax.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/11/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Beautiful, moving with some great performances.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/11/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This film was solid.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/12/23

Full Review

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Yaron Zilberman

Director

Philip Seymour Hoffman

Robert Gelbart

Christopher Walken

Peter Mitchell

Mark Ivanir

Daniel Lerner

Catherine Keener

Juliette Gelbart

Imogen Poots

Alexandra Gelbart

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Ryan Gilbey

New Statesman

A Late Quartet is a terrible film-it's like an idiots' Amour.

Oct 3, 2017

Full Review

Stanley Kauffmann

The New Republic

We can note immediately that Zilberman has the requisite gifts.

Jun 17, 2013

Full Review

Derek Malcolm

London Evening Standard

It is not flawless but it makes you watch, and listen, closely throughout.

Rated: 4/5

Apr 5, 2013

Full Review

Jonah Koslofsky

The Spool

Hoffman knew how to hold back, how to use his screen-time to imply an interiority without a script that spells everything out.

May 25, 2021

Full Review

Katie Smith-Wong

Flick Feast

Although the tone and pacing may not set the screen alight, A Late Quartet has sensitivity, sophistication and a strong, watchable cast ensemble.

Rated: 3.5/5

Nov 21, 2019

Full Review

Mattie Lucas

From the Front Row

A little more of that kind of restrained elegance and musical beauty may have freed the film from its somewhat stifling atmosphere.

Rated: 2.5/4

Aug 6, 2019

Full Review

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Synopsis

For 25 years, the Fugue, a string quartet, has wowed music-lovers with its skilled performances. However, as the musicians prepare to celebrate a milestone season together, cellist Peter (Christopher Walken) drops a bombshell on his comrades: he has Parkinson's disease and must soon retire. In the fallout from the shocking announcement, competing egos clash, long-simmering resentments bubble to the surface, and marital infidelity rears its ugly head.

Director: Yaron Zilberman
Executive Producer: Adi Ezroni, Ted Hartley, Peter Pastorelli, Cassandra Kulukundis
Screenwriter: Yaron Zilberman, Seth Grossman
Distributor: Entertainment One
Production Co: Opening Night
Rating: R (Some Sexuality|Language)
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 2, 2012, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 1, 2013
Box Office (Gross USA): $1.6M

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