Synopsis
When the beloved cellist of a world-renowned string quartet is diagnosed with a life threatening illness, the group's future suddenly hangs in the balance as suppressed emotions, competing egos and uncontrollable passions threaten to derail years of friendship and collaboration. As they are about to play their 25th anniversary concert — quite possibly their last — only their intimate bond and the power of music can preserve their legacy.
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Cast
- Christopher WalkenPeter Mitchell
- Philip Seymour HoffmanRobert Gelbart
- Mark IvanirDaniel Lerner
- Catherine KeenerJuliette Gelbart
- Imogen PootsAlexandra Gelbart
- Liraz CharhiPilar
- Madhur JaffreyDr. Nadir
- Anne Sofie von OtterMiriam Mitchell
- Wallace ShawnGideon Rosen
- Pamela QuinnParkinson's Class Instructor
Recommendations
- 88
Chicago Sun-Times
A Late Quartet does one of the most interesting things any film can do. It shows how skilled professionals work. - 83
The A.V. Club
Yaron Zilberman's first feature has a solid structure, but as with a piece of music, the way it's played makes all the difference. His principal actors aren't great at faking their instrumental prowess, but they're perfectly in tune with each other, playing artists who've postponed life's decisions in the name of pursuing their craft. - 70
Variety
Centered around four outstanding performances, Yaron Zilberman's fiction-feature debut feels like the work of a filmmaker who knows and appreciates the art form under scrutiny, laying a credible foundation for a story that lays bare the often melodramatic passions of the artistic soul. - 70
Time
A Late Quartet serves as an acting showcase, particularly for Walken and Hoffman, and makes for an interesting study in artistic ego. - 63
Observer
Playing the cello is such a pleasant change of pace that he (Walken) eventually grows on you, scene by scene, proving for the first time since his role as Leonardo DiCaprio's troubled father 10 years ago in "Catch Me If You Can," that he really can act. He - along with the rest of the elegant cast - keeps A Late Quartet in tune when it threatens to go flat. - 60
The Hollywood Reporter
The film mines both the relationship issues and the Upper East Side neighborhoods of Woody Allen's best work, but could use an added dose of the Woodster's jokes to spruce up a self-serious scenario that hits the right notes about half the time. - 60
Time Out
The four leads more often than not transcend the material's calculated moroseness; Ivanir is especially good as a man whose perfectionist facade masks a soul in perpetual turmoil. - 50
The Playlist
The trio (Hoffman/Keener/Walken) give top shelf performances as we've always come to expect from them in A Late Quartet. But it's just too bad that they're in service of Yaron Zilberman's film, which takes the unique focus of a string quartet in Manhattan, and puts it in the middle of a standard and unsatisfying soap opera, that spins off into one subplot too many.
