As a result of a post on this board, I rented this movie and loved it
.
I combines to of my passions: movies and classical music.
The cast is excellent; the story is excellent and the music is excellent.
There are three Oscar nominees here that help make this a thoughtful and memorable movie.
Beethoven's Op.131 is one of his late string quartets to be played without pause between movements---
attacca I am hoping it was my post. Whatever, I am glad you loved it because it seems to have passed most film-buffs by despite the stellar cast.
The Late Quartets are for me not only the ultimate peak of music but, given that "all arts aspire to the condition of music", the most sublime artistic creation in any art-form.
Do you agree with me that Imogen Poots (much as I normally admire her) was a relative weak-point in the film? Not sure if it was her fault or that of her lines.
I
admired Mark Ivanir, an actor previously unknown to me. He was in no way outshone by Hoffman, Walken and Keener.---------------------------------------
It MAY have been your post that pointed this movie out to me.
Did you also mention
The Red Violin in the same post?
I enjoyed this movie since it's story sort of mirrors the roles of the musicians in any string quartet.
And, the Fugue Quartet perfectly represents Beethoven's great fugue, Opus 131.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gx2KlpV_ZOk This may have been Beethoven's favorite work but I still prefer his Gross Fugue, Opus 133 (with this wonderful animation showing how the sounds of the four instruments interact):
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s0Mp7LFI-kThe first violin leads; the second violin gives counterpart and harmony, the viola gives warmth and the cello grounds the whole work.
One thing I didn't understand was what role (or instrument) Christopher Walken's character's late wife would have played.
It seems that the entire quartet had been together for something like 20 years.
So who replaced Walken's wife?
My first thought was that Mark Ivanir's character replaced her after her death.
But, he seemed to be in the quartet for those 20 years also.
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I wonder if Howard Schumann has seen this great movie....