Friends of the Cinema will begin the 2013-2014 season on Sept. 16 with Quartet, a 2012 British comedy-drama based on the play of the same title by Ronald Harwood, which ran in London’s West End from September 1999-January 2000. The film is actor Dustin Hoffman’s directorial debut.
Three retired members of an opera quartet — Cissy (Pauline Collins), Wilf (Billy Connolly) and Reginald (Tom Courtenay) — live in Beecham House retirement home and perform a concert every year for Giuseppe Verdi’s birthday. However, when Reginald’s ex-wife and the fourth and most famous member of the quartet, Jean (Maggie Smith), arrives at Beecham, rivalries stir and temperaments clash, making it unknown if the show will go on.
With a star-studded cast and award-winning actor as director, the movie should be an entertaining and worthwhile endeavor. Quartet promises to be a gentle and funny look at aging and life.
Quartet will run at the Prince Charles Theatre at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 16.
—FRIENDS OF THE CINEMA