Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
Quartet is a 1981 period romantic drama based on the same name novel of Jean Rhys. The film is about a young woman, whose husband gets imprisoned and is left destitute out of sudden in 1927 Paris. She reluctantly accepts the invitation of an affluent couple she is acquainted with to stay at the spare room of their apartment…
PLOT
Marya (Isabelle Adjani), a young woman coming from West India, is left destitute out of the blue when her Polish art dealer husband Stephan (Anthony Higgins) is convicted of theft. For a year he will be imprisoned, and she is in an unpleasant predicament, considering she has no money or work license in a foreign country. Stephan is concerned about Marya’s fate and suggests she should accept the invitation of the Heidlers to stay at their spare room. The Heidlers is an affluent English married couple, which Marya knows only socially. Marya is aware that Mr. Heidler or commonly called H.J. might want to seduce her, but she is ashamed to divulge it to Stephan. With no other options left she decides to follow her husband’s advice and stay with the Heidlers…
In my opinion Quartet is one of the weakest James Ivory films. The movie is beset by its slow pace and sometimes it was tiresome to watch. Another problem is that there is no narrator. We see events happening, with inadequate background information and for this reason all these events seem unconnected to each other. I really wanted to sympathize with the female protagonist, but unfortunately, the two lead characters were sketchily developed.
CHARACTERS
• Marya is a young woman coming from West India. She is married to Polish art dealer Stephan. After he is charged with theft of artworks, he is imprisoned and she is left homeless and penniless. Since she is a foreigner with has no work license and no way to support herself. At Stephan’s urging she decides to stay with the Heidlers, an affluent married English couple. From the start it is obvious that Mr. Heidler’s/ H.J’s intentions are not to her advantage, but she has no choice. She never ceases to believe in Stephan, even when the Heidlers are discouraging her from visiting him in prison. Marya knows that accepting the Heidlers’ invitation to stay with them is not in her best interest. Still she hides her doubts about H.J. from Stephan, because she is ashamed.
• Stephan is Marya’s husband. He is an art worker from Poland, who is arrested for selling stolen artworks. Oblivious to the fact that H.J. wants to seduce Marya, he suggests she accept their invitation and stay with them.
• H.J. is a wealthy English art dealer and a married man. He is obsessed with the idea of “saving” young women in need by letting them stay in the apartment’s spare room. Then he seduces them and in most of the cases they are forced by circumstances to indulge in his sexual needs.
• Lois is H.J’s wife and a painter. She is totally aware of H.J’s advances to these women and still turns a blind eye to it, because she does not want to be abandoned. Lois knows that he is doing it out of boredom, so she plays along with it, until he diverts his attention back to her. She would never do something to upset him or ruin their public image. Generally it is stated by her friend that Lois has endured many things from H.J. Her indifference towards these women is the exact reason why we fail to sympathize with her. All she cares about is H.J’s needs and keeping up appearances.
Both Marya and Stephan are portrayed in a way that we do not get to know anything about them on a personal level. This especially happens with Stephan, who is like an outsider in the film. We see the female protagonist being in an unpleasant situation because of him and still never turning her back on him. Though, we never have the chance to learn enough information about his personality or their relationship…
ACTING
Isabelle Adjani was charming in the role of Marya, who is indigent in a foreign country after her husband’s imprisonment. Unfortunately, her character is superficially portrayed, without the viewer realizing what motivates her to do the things she did. Adjani did a really good job, even if her character was poorly written.
What bewildered me the most was the complete lack of chemistry between the two leads. Anthony Higgins’ performance as Stephan was wooden. Regardless of how much Isabelle Adjani tries, their scenes together feel awkward and unconvincing.
Alan Bates and Maggie Smith were exceptional as H.J. and Lois respectively. They delivered amazing performances as the peculiar rich couple, which looks perfect on the outside, but is highly dysfunctional on the inside.
DIRECTION/ CINEMATOGRAPHY
Direction by James Ivory was well made and cinematography by Pierre Lhomme was enchanting, recreating an elegant atmosphere of Paris in 1927. I appreciated the costumes and the scenes depicting the decadent Parisian lifestyle. The technical aspect elevated a lot the film and made up a bit for its flaws in the screenplay.
THE END
The ending is open, leaving to our imagination what the fate of Marya could be…
Quad Cinema in New York City is hosting a retrospective of iconic filmmaking duo Ismail Merchant and James Ivory, leading up to the theatrical release of Stephen Soucy’s definitive documentary of the pair Merchant Ivory on August 30. The series (starting Friday, August 23, 2024) features gorgeous 4K restorations from the Cohen Film Collection of Merchant Ivory classics Howards End, The Bostonians, Maurice, Quartet, and Heat and Dust, plus brand-new restorations of lesser-known titles Roseland and In Custody.
- Rating Certificate: R
- Studios & Distributors: Merchant Ivory Productions | Cohen Media Group
- Director: James Ivory
- Written By: Jean Rhys | Ruth Prawer Jhabvala | Michel Maingois
- Country: United Kingdom | France
- Langauge: English | French
- Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
- Run Time: 101 Mins.
- Original Release Date: 25 October 1981