Quartet (2012)

At a home for retired opera singers, the annual concert to celebrate Verdi's birthday is disrupted by the arrival of Jean, an eternal diva and the former wife of one of the residents. IMDB.

Pauline Collins with
 Cleese look-alike Billy Connolly

The terrific British cast including the eternal Maggie Smith, the likeable Billy Connolly, the iconic Andrew Sachs (from Fawlty Towers' Manuel), and the veteran Michael Gambon from The Singing Detective of so long ago, convinced me to go and see this film. I was however, disappointed. Not so much for it's tame script or lack of genuine humour, or the contrite story line, nor for it's ponderous pace, all of which apply here. No, but for the killing of the beautiful setting with a washed out look totally lacking in contrast and colour saturation. I don't know if that was intentional or it was a fault of the projectionist but I could not enjoy the boring bits by soaking the image before me. I wondered whether this film might have been shot with a digital camera and then poorly rendered in the editing stage. Anyway its is not the job of the viewer to consider these technicalities. 

In the acting department Maggie looked like a stunned mullet most of the time looking for something to say but is given nothing much to work with, and given that she can't sing though playing the role of a singer there was a real problem here. Then there is Andrew Sach, his clowning skills could have been better highlighted with a bit more thoughtful direction. We hardly ever get to close ups for facial expressions. Michael Gambon was good, he obviously took no crap from the director. Billy Connolly was light and frothy with the usual compulsory doses of vulgar humour, but thankfully not over the top. Amazing how much he looks like John Cleese here.

Overall its just a time passer.