A Late Quartet

Amazon.com By focusing on the dynamics of a string quartet, writer-director Yaron Zilberman's A Late Quartet ends up playing like a family portrait, with Christopher Walken's Peter as the father figure. Older than his partners by three decades, he's been working with them for 25 years, but their future comes into question when he receives a devastating diagnosis. While his motor skills remain intact, Peter decides to play one more concert before bowing out (in flashbacks, opera singer Anne Sofie von Otter plays his late wife). As they prepare for their final season, he continues to teach a class that includes Alexandra (Imogen Poots), the resentful daughter of Juliette (Catherine Keener) and Robert (Philip Seymour Hoffman), whose relationship has been unraveling for some time. Robert, who plays second violin, explains the position to his attractive running partner: "I pull it all together, that's my part," but he would prefer first chair. Alex also takes private lessons from Daniel (Mark Ivanir), whose brusque style takes her aback, but she warms up to him to the extent that the professional becomes personal, though their affair seems designed more to hurt her parents than to satisfy her own desires (Jules once had a thing for Daniel). Except for Peter, a role Walken handles with grace, they come across as childish and petulant, which may describe some career musicians, but it's also off-putting. With a little help from Beethoven's Opus 131, however, everyone grows up by the end of Zilberman's well-acted, if uneven film. --Kathleen C. Fennessy Product Description The four members of a world-renowned string quartet struggle to stay together in the face of death, competing egos and insuppressible lust. Set in iconic New York City, this is the story of four musicians, bound together by their passion for music and long years of working together. But when their patriarch Peter is diagnosed with a terminal illness, the repercussions hit the group deeper than they could imagine. First and second violinists Robert and Daniel row over first chair, Robert and violist Juliette's marriage hits the rocks when he has an affair, and their headstrong daughter embarks on her own explosive affair - with Daniel. As their 25th anniversary performance looms, the musicians must either find a way to overcome their troubles, and preserve their legacy - or part ways forever.
ASIN: B00AQBDU4Q
VSKU: DBV.B00AQBDU4Q.G
Condition: Good
Binding: DVD
Note: Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.
Condition Notes: Individually inspected: Guaranteed to play perfectly or your money back. Case may show wear and may be in library packaging. Ships Fast!