Quartet (1981)

Director:

James Ivory

Writers:

Jean Rhys (novel)
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (screenplay)

Release Date:

25 October 1981 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot Keywords:

Nightclub | Ménage À Trois | Zoo | Concubine | Decadence

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Alan Bates	...	H.J. Heidler
Maggie Smith	...	Lois Heidler
Isabelle Adjani	...	Marya 'Mado' Zelli
Anthony Higgins	...	Stephan Zelli
Pierre Clémenti	...	Théo the Pornographer
Suzanne Flon	...	Mme. Hautchamp
Daniel Mesguich	...	Pierre Schlamovitz
Sheila Gish	...	Anna
Armelia McQueen	...	Night Club Singer
Wiley Wood	...	Cairn
Virginie Thévenet	...	Madmoiselle Chardin
Daniel Chatto	...	Guy
Bernice Stegers	...	Miss Nicholson
Paulita Sedgwick	...	Esther
Sébastien Floche	...	Edouard Hautchamp

Runtime:

USA:101 min

Country:

UK | France

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:18 (video rating) | UK:X (original rating) | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Singapore:M18 | Sweden:11 | USA:R | Ireland:18

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Company:

Merchant Ivory Productions

Trivia:

The book written by Jean Rhys was originally titled "Postures" when it was published in London in 1928 by Chatto and Windus. When the U.S. publishers Simon and Schuster published it in the United States, the name was changed to "Quartet".

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Wandering Company (1984) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Full Time Lover

A complex film, the harsh fate of a young woman without resources in the twenties...

In the tradition of some Merchant/Ivory films...this one deals with very profound social realities for a young woman (Isabelle Adjani)in Paris in the 1920s whose husband is a thief, is jailed. She is left penniless and without means of support (has no working papers). A rather strange English couple (Maggie Smith and Alan Bates) offer her refuge...but at the price of seduction by the husband, tolerated by the artist wife, who is inordinately tied to him emotionally. The young woman's emotional and psychological state is thrown into almost unbearable ambivalance...Love for her husband whom she visits weekly in jail and the need for survival. The film's visual beauty, the lighting, the intensity of color, the evocation of the "jazz age", the cabarets, the authentic costuming, in addition to the splended acting and direction make this a film deserving of far more attention than it's received, in my opinion. A truly cinematic experience of significance.