''Quartet'' is a 1981

period drama A historical drama (also period drama, period piece or just period) is a dramatic work set in the past, usually used in the context of film and television, which presents history, historical events and characters with varying degrees of fiction s ...

film directed by

James Ivory James Francis Ivory (born Richard Jerome Hazen June 7, 1928) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He was a principal in Merchant Ivory Productions along with Indian film producer Ismail Merchant (his domestic and professio ...

from a screenplay by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, based on the 1928 novel by

Jean Rhys Jean Rhys, ( ; born Ella Gwendoline Rees Williams; 24 August 1890 – 14 May 1979) was a novelist who was born and grew up in the Caribbean island of Dominica. From the age of 16, she resided mainly in England, where she was sent for her educa ...

. The film stars

Alan Bates Sir Alan Arthur Bates (17 February 1934 – 27 December 2003) was an English actor who came to prominence in the Cinema of the United Kingdom#The 1960s, 1960s, when he appeared in films ranging from ''Whistle Down the Wind (film), Whistle Down ...

Maggie Smith Dame Margaret Natalie Smith (28 December 1934 – 27 September 2024) was a British actress. Known for her wit in both comedic and dramatic roles, she had List of Maggie Smith performances, an extensive career on stage and screen for over seve ...

Isabelle Adjani Isabelle Yasmine Adjani (born 27 June 1955) is a French actress and singer of Algerian and German descent. She has received various accolades, including five César Awards and a Lumière Award, along with nominations for two Academy Awards. ...

and Anthony Higgins, and is set in 1927 Paris. It premiered at the 1981 Cannes Film Festival.

Plot

The beautiful Marya "Mado" Zelli is living with her husband Stephan, a Polish art dealer, in 1927 Paris. When he is convicted of selling stolen artwork, and imprisoned for one year, Marya is left penniless, with no means to support herself. At Stephan's urging, she moves into the apartment of some acquaintances, H.J. Heidler, a wealthy English art dealer, and his wife Lois, a painter. H.J. Heidler has a history of inviting vulnerable young women to move into the "spare room" only to seduce them. Lois permits this arrangement because she wants to keep H.J. from leaving her. Marya becomes involved in the decadent Parisian lifestyle of the Heidlers and their group of fellow expatriates. Although she initially resists H.J.'s advances, Mado eventually begins an affair with him. The strain of living with the Heidlers begins to manifest itself; Marya becomes desperate to leave, and begs Lois to lend her money so she can get away. Lois, although extremely unhappy with the situation, is reluctant to interfere at the risk of alienating H.J. Her behavior towards Marya is increasingly passive-aggressive and insulting. During a hunting excursion to the countryside, Marya angrily confronts the pair, causing Lois to break down in anguish. After this H.J. arranges for Marya to live in a hotel, where he visits her less frequently for sexual trysts. She grows lonely and depressed, contemplating suicide. During a tea party at the Heidlers', Lois casually reveals that H.J.'s previous mistress drowned herself in despair. When things are at their worst, Stephan is released from prison and must leave France immediately. Heidler threatens to cut ties with her entirely if she returns to her husband, and although Marya has longed to be re-united with Stephan, she is unable to choose between the two. Stephan realizes the truth, and the film ends with him leaving Marya to an uncertain future.

Cast

as Marya Zelli (nickname Mado) *

as H. J. Heidler *

as Lois Heidler * Anthony Higgins as Stephan Zelli *

Sheila Gish Sheila Gish (born Sheila Anne Syme Gash; 23 April 1942 – 9 March 2005) was an English actress. For her role in the 1995 London revival of the Stephen Sondheim musical ''Company'', she won the Olivier Award for Best Supporting Performance i ...

as Anna *

Suzanne Flon Suzanne Flon (28 January 1918 – 15 June 2005) was a French people, French stage, film, and television actress. She won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress for her performance in the 1961 film ''Tu ne tueras point, Thou Shalt Not Kill''. Flon also re ...

as Madame Hautchamp * Pierre Clementi as Theo *

Daniel Mesguich Daniel Mesguich (born 15 July 1952) is a French actor and director in theater and opera, and professor of stage acting school. Biography In 1970, he was admitted into the Conservatoire National Supérieur d'Art Dramatique, after which he opened ...

as Pierre Schlamovitz * Virginie Thévenet as Mademoiselle Chardin *

Daniel Chatto Daniel St George Chatto (born Daniel Chatto St George Sproule; 22 April 1957) is a British artist and former actor. He is the husband of Lady Sarah Chatto, the daughter of Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, niece of Queen Elizabeth II and ...

as Guy *

Armelia McQueen Armelia Audrey McQueen (January 6, 1952 – October 3, 2020) was an American actress. She is best known for her roles in the Broadway musical '' Ain't Misbehavin (1978–1982, 1988–1989), the film ''Ghost'' (1990), and the television series ...

as night club singer

Release

The film was released by the Cohen Media Group on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

and

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

in 2019. Robert Abele of the

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

said that "whether the arc of Marya's fate feels overly engineered to you or not, ''Quartet'' retains its power to unsettle in its accumulation of cuts and bruises, the rare Merchant-Ivory-Jhabvala effort that mines a glamorized past not for nuanced dignity but for a kind of elegant, honest sordidness".

Reception

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' wrote: "Director James Ivory takes his usual aloofly observant distance and the film's love triangle loses some drastic impetus".

Awards

References

External links

*
Quartet
' at

Merchant Ivory Productions Merchant Ivory Productions is a film company founded in 1961 by producer Ismail Merchant (1936–2005) and director James Ivory (b. 1928). Merchant and Ivory were life and business partners from 1961 until Merchant's death in 2005. During the ...

*
''Quartet''
at the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

{{Authority control 1981 films 1981 drama films 1981 multilingual films 1980s British films 1980s French films 1980s historical drama films British historical drama films British multilingual films English-language French films Films based on British novels Films directed by James Ivory Films set in 1924 Films set in Paris Films with screenplays by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala French historical drama films French multilingual films Merchant Ivory Productions films Films scored by Richard Robbins English-language historical drama films