Who would have thought that self-absorbed classical musicians could be so attractive to women? The second violinist is a bedhopper, sleeping around with a young fan (do quartets really have groupies?) while his wife, the viola player, is away, although she inevitably finds out. Their daughter, meanwhile, initiates an affair with the first violinist Daniel, who of course, is 'brilliant'. Not that we ever see him doing anything brilliant, but we are told he is.
All this may remind you of the implausibly complex relationships of the old comedy series 'Soap'. Here however it is played in deadly earnest.
The music over the opening credits gave me an early red flag of the empty melodrama to come. Instead of quartet music or something composed in the same spirit, an insipid orchestral piece is heard. This music gets more saccharine as the film progresses.
The second violinist, when not bed hopping, is getting a bit tired of -ahem- playing second fiddle. Although he has been doing this successfully for 25 years.
He's also angry that the brilliant Daniel does not want to play without the score in front of them. Although he has been doing this successfully for 25 years.
So we have this brilliant musician who never takes any risks but is still brilliant and plays to packed auditoriums.
Obviously this is a lot of clichés strung together and never really rises above it. But the main problem is a lack of resolution of any of its themes. The viola player leaves the 2nd fiddler, the 2nd fiddler punches Daniel, the viola player discovers her daughter's affair with Daniel, yet none of this is really resolved. We merely see the quartet playing together at the end and, to slushy music, in a scene designed to inspire us, they close the score. Wow. That's revelatory! The one good part of this is Walken's role as a cellist coming to terms with his incipient Parkinson's. He handles with dignity and his resignation at the end is actually moving.
All this may remind you of the implausibly complex relationships of the old comedy series 'Soap'. Here however it is played in deadly earnest.
The music over the opening credits gave me an early red flag of the empty melodrama to come. Instead of quartet music or something composed in the same spirit, an insipid orchestral piece is heard. This music gets more saccharine as the film progresses.
The second violinist, when not bed hopping, is getting a bit tired of -ahem- playing second fiddle. Although he has been doing this successfully for 25 years.
He's also angry that the brilliant Daniel does not want to play without the score in front of them. Although he has been doing this successfully for 25 years.
So we have this brilliant musician who never takes any risks but is still brilliant and plays to packed auditoriums.
Obviously this is a lot of clichés strung together and never really rises above it. But the main problem is a lack of resolution of any of its themes. The viola player leaves the 2nd fiddler, the 2nd fiddler punches Daniel, the viola player discovers her daughter's affair with Daniel, yet none of this is really resolved. We merely see the quartet playing together at the end and, to slushy music, in a scene designed to inspire us, they close the score. Wow. That's revelatory! The one good part of this is Walken's role as a cellist coming to terms with his incipient Parkinson's. He handles with dignity and his resignation at the end is actually moving.