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- 1981
- R
- Gaumont
- 1 h 41 m
- 1981
- R
- Gaumont
- 1 h 41 m
SummaryMarya finds herself penniless after her art dealer husband, Stephan, is convicted of theft. Marya accepts the hospitality of a strange couple, H.J. and Lois Heidler, who lets her live in their house.
Directed By: James Ivory
Written By: Jean Rhys, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Michel Maingois, James Ivory
- 1981
- R
- Gaumont
- 1 h 41 m
- 1981
- R
- Gaumont
- 1 h 41 m
Quartet
62
6.0
My Score
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SummaryMarya finds herself penniless after her art dealer husband, Stephan, is convicted of theft. Marya accepts the hospitality of a strange couple, H.J. and Lois Heidler, who lets her live in their house.
Directed By: James Ivory
Written By: Jean Rhys, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Michel Maingois, James Ivory
Where to Watch
Not available in your country?
ExpressVPN
Get 3 Extra months free
$6.67/mth
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally FavorableBased on 7 Critic Reviews
62
43% Positive
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
57% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
- All Reviews
- Positive Reviews
- Mixed Reviews
- Negative Reviews
Metascore
Generally FavorableBased on 7 Critic Reviews
62
43% Positive
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
57% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
- All Reviews
- Positive Reviews
- Mixed Reviews
- Negative Reviews
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.
Their best work since the fresh and appealing studies in cultural clash they made in India in the '60s, such as "Shakespeare Wallah." Movies are not literature, and Ivory is a dangerously literary director. But in Quartet he has found the images to express Jean Rhys's troubling vision of female fatality. [9 Nov 1981, p.94]
By Staff (Not Credited)
Almost always entertaining to watch and infuriatingly wrong in several important ways, chief among these being the casting of Miss Adjani as Marya.
Like their previous movies, it emerges as an interesting disappointment, reflecting a cultivated and audacious taste in material inhibited by a stuffy approach to filmmaking. The advantage of their intelligent, literate, methodical style is that it may accommodate novel themes and impressive performances. [28 Jan 1982, p.C11]
Maggie Smith and Alan Bates successfully personify the cold spirit that Rhys held to be pre-war England, but Adjani manages merely to reduce Marya's fatalism to spinelessness. The direction, intimate yet retaining a sense of distance, is true both to Rhys and to Ivory.
By Staff (Not Credited)FULL REVIEW
Director James Ivory takes his usual aloofly observant distance and the film's love triangle loses some drastic impetus.
By Staff (Not Credited)FULL REVIEW
Ivory's dispassionate direction precludes real involvement with the characters, resulting in a peculiarly austere depiction of a colorful era.
By Staff (Not Credited)FULL REVIEW
User Score
Mixed or AverageBased on 4 User Ratings
6.0
50% Positive
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
50% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
- All Reviews
- Positive Reviews
- Mixed Reviews
- Negative Reviews
User Score
Mixed or AverageBased on 4 User Ratings
6.0
50% Positive
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
50% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
- All Reviews
- Positive Reviews
- Mixed Reviews
- Negative Reviews
Production Company Merchant Ivory Productions, Lyric International, National Film Trustee Company
Release DateOct 25, 1981
Duration1 h 41 m
RatingR