Dustin Hoffman makes his directorial debut in a comedy.
The debut is soft and sweet in the dramatic comedy "The Quartet," in the good company of an excellent British cast of its generation. Adapting his own play for the screen, South African screenwriter Ronald Harwood – winner of the 2002 Oscar for the adapted screenplay of "The Pianist" – centers his story on Beecham House, a splendid mansion in a forest that serves as a home for retired musicians.
SAO PAULO, March 6 (Reuters) Veteran and award-winning American actor Dustin Hoffman waited until he was over 75 and had made over 70 films to make his directorial debut. However, his directorial debut is a gentle and sweet one with the dramatic comedy "Quartet," in the company of an excellent British cast of his generation.
Adapting his own play for the screen, South African screenwriter (based in England) Ronald Harwood – winner of the 2002 Oscar for his adapted screenplay for "The Pianist" – centers his story on Beecham House, a splendid mansion in a forest that serves as a home for retired musicians.
There live opera singers like friends Cissy (Pauline Collins), Reginald (Tom Courtenay) and Wilf (Billy Connolly), who support each other through adversity, such as Cissy's increasingly frequent memory lapses. The witty Wilf, who confesses to "hating having grown old," consoles himself by insisting on flirting with the tolerant house staff.
Reginald, who seems the most level-headed of them all, is shocked to discover the imminent arrival of a new resident. It's Jean (Maggie Smith), his ex-wife, from whom he separated many years ago in a traumatic way. He even considers leaving Beecham House because he finds it impossible to share the same address with Jean again.
Other inhabitants of the house think very differently. The conductor Cedric (Michael Gambon), for example, thinks Jean fell from the sky. After all, she is precisely the voice that was missing to complete a famous quartet from Verdi's opera Rigoletto - which she performed alongside Cissy, Wilf and Reginald.
Since Cedric believes that Verdi's quartet with this group will be a major attraction at the end-of-year show, essential for raising funds for Beecham House's very survival, Reginald will be pressured from all sides - including by Jean herself, who is trying to make amends for a past mistake.
In this simple yet delightful story, where the cast is as well-matched as the music, the presence of several veteran opera singers – such as the Welsh soprano Gwyneth Smith – is an attraction in itself.
The script is not lacking in intelligence, as in the scene where Reginald discusses with a group of young visitors the similarities between opera and rap - one of the funniest moments in the film.
(By Neusa Barbosa, from Cineweb)
* The opinions expressed are the responsibility of Cineweb.