Quartet - The Merchant Ivory Collection

Description

A story of a girl who, adrift with her feckless husband amid the literati of glittering Paris in the 1920s, becomes entrapped by a rich and sybaritic English couple. From the wistful melancholy of the autobiographical novel by Jean Rhys, Quartet is full of intense confrontations dazzlingly acted by Alan Bates, Maggie Smith, Anthony Higgins, and Isabelle Adjani. The characters act out their passions not only in the usual seedy cafés and louche hotels of Rhys' Parisian novels but also the smoky jazz haunts and lavish settings of a James Ivory film. Nevertheless, Quartet remains, in theme, one of the Merchant Ivory team's darkest and most compelling dramas of relationships dangerously intertwined.

Customer Reviews:

"She ought to sing for her supper.".......2005-03-10

The Merchant Ivory film "Quartet" is set in 1920s Paris. Beautiful Marya Zelli (Isabelle Adjani) is left completely destitute when her husband Stephan (Anthony Higgins) is arrested for trafficking in stolen art. He's shipped off to jail for a year, and she's left living in a hotel with no money. A wealthy middle aged married couple, Lois (Maggie Smith) and H.J Heidler (Alan Bates) offer Marya their protection and the use of their spare room.

The first time the Heidlers meet Marya is in a small Parisian cafe when they are introduced by mutual friends. HJ loses no time in groping Marya, and while she appears uncomfortable with the gesture, she fails to stop him or to express distaste. Going back and forth from her hotel to the jail, she visits Stephan once a week, and he presses her to accept the Heidlers' hospitality. Marya is reluctant to do so--probably because HJ has already made his intentions quite clear, but now penniless, urged on by Stephan and pursued by the dogged persistence of the Heilders, Marya finally agrees to move in with the married couple.

The Heidlers are an odd pair. Lois states "I always give way to HJ" and it's soon quite apparent that darling HJ is immensely irresponsible, possessing the emotional maturity of a petulant 5 year-old. The Heidlers' penchant for adding a third person to their marriage has a historical precedent. Apparently, another young girl moved in to their home some years ago. While there she posed for portrait artist Lois, and the girl eventually committed suicide. When HJ first presses for Marya to move into their home, Lois promptly tells him "I think you're just getting bored." And apparently, it's Marya's job to entertain HJ, keeping the couple happy in the process.

The sets are all gorgeous, and the film includes heavy sections of Parisian nightlife. Unfortunately, in spite of the stellar cast, and gorgeous sets, somehow the film fails to do justice to the Jean Rhys novel. The film does not grasp the nuances of character--especially in portraying Marya. This leaves Isabelle Adjani (a fine actress) playing Marya as a sort of passive, ultra naive ninny. The film's treatment of the Rhys novel is unfortunate, and the filmmakers' creative moments tend towards the simplistic (the interpretation of the Heidler's marriage) and the sensational (Parisian culture). Fans of the novel won't be able to resist catching the film, but inevitably, it's a disappointing interpretation--displacedhuman

AVOID AT ALL COST..........2004-08-16

Merchant-Ivory have never been more self-conscious or grasping for, for , what...a decent script by the usually capable Ruth Prawer Jhabvala? Here, she was either out-of-town - or completely overdosed on absinthe.

A more disastrous film one has not encountered in a very long while. Truly embarrassing for the astoundingly gifted Isabell Adjani - who, here, is reduced to whining, clownlishly awkward self-dubbing of her English. The late Alan Bates serves up a ridiculous performance as her paramour. Maggie Smith tries hard but comes up laughable. Anthony Higgins is the one source of interest in the entire thing - and yet has such little screen time that he is genuinely better off not being remembered as having appeared in this fiasco.

The liner notes proudly claim that they spent only 1.8 milion dollars on this 'event'.

I - or you - could have filmed this very small and lacklustre story for a tenth of these monies, and come up with something more real.

Avoid this at all costs...

an overlooked Merchant/Ivory treasure.......2000-10-05

Since its release in the early 1980s, Quartet hasn't been remembered as much as some of their other films. Thats a shame because Quartet is one of their finer works. A very engrossing drama about mind control and deceit. As one would expect from M & A, the attention to detail in recreating the roaring 20's is fabulous. Alan Bates does a wonderful job as H.B., the controlling maniac disguised as a gentleman. Maggie Smith is heartbreaking as the passive wife who tries desperately to cling to her husband despite his infidelities. But its Isabelle Adjani who steals the show. Her character's development from innocent, to arrogant, to ignorant makes Quartet memorable.

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