Luscious loves: “Quartet” 2012 film starring Maggie Smith, Billy Connolly, Tom Courtney and Pauline Collins

So we just got home from watching “Quartet“, the 2012 Dustin Hoffman film starring Maggie Smith, Billy Connolly, Tom Courtenay and Pauline Collins as the four leads (aka the “quartet”)…

The story revolves around some retired musicians at a grand country house retirement home, primarily four singers who once performed together in Verdi’s Rigoletto. Here’s the blurb:

Cissy, Wilf, and Reg are all retired members of an operatic quartet, living in Beecham House, a retirement home for gifted musicians, who put on a concert on Giuseppe Verdi’s birthday every year. However, the arrival of the fourth member of the quartet, and Reg’s ex-wife, Jean, results in old rivalries and theatrical temperaments and it becomes unclear if the show will or will not go on.

Learn more about Verdi here, and the opera, Rigoletto, here.

The cast also includes Michael Gambon (Dumbledore in Harry Potter), Sheridan Smith (Lark Rise to Candleford), Andrew Sachs (Fawlty Towers) and a fabulous group of real-life musicians such as Dame Gwyneth Jones. The beautiful estate was located at Hedsor House in Taplow, Buckinghamshire, a Georgian mansion not far from Prince Charles and Camilla at Highgrove House.

It was written by playwright and screenwriter Ronald Harwood (The Pianist, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) and directed by Dustin Hoffman (Tootsie, Rain Man), in his directorial debut.

Learn more about the charming leads: Maggie Smith (Downton Abbey, Harry Potter), Tom Courtenay (Billy Liar, Dr Zhivago), Billy Connolly (Mrs Brown, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events), and Pauline Collins (Upstairs Downstairs, Shirley Valentine).

If you like English ensemble films such as Tea with Mussolini, The Best Marigold Hotel, and Gosford Park, all starring the sublime Maggie Smith, you’re sure to like Quartet too.

Watch the Quartet (2012) trailer:

Read more about the film from IMDB and Wikipedia.

Listen to the Quartet from Rigoletto:

Whilst the film is deliberately slow and thoughtful (ie. not for those of you needing an action flick), one of my favourite scenes is where retiree Reg gives a talk about the similarities between opera and rap to some teenagers. Priceless.

Have you seen it too? What did you think? Leave a comment below.

Cheers, Natasha
www.myLusciousLife.com

PS. We’re now listening to some opera classics. As you do!

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