IMDb > Quartet (1981)

Overview

User Rating:
6.4/10   404 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 1% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
James Ivory
Writers:
Jean Rhys (novel)
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (screenplay)
(more)
Contact:
View company contact information for Quartet on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
25 October 1981 (USA) more
Genre:
Drama | Romance more
Plot Keywords:
more
Awards:
Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 2 wins & 1 nomination more
User Comments:
Bleaker than the real-life version. more (7 total)

Cast

  (in credits order) (verified as complete)

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
Isabelle Canto da Maya ... Cri-Cri (as Isabelle Canto Da Maya)
François Viaur ... Lefranc
Dino Zanghi ... Prison Guard
Michel Such ... Prison Guard
Jean-Pierre Dravel ... Prison Guard
Annie Noël ... Maid
Maurice Ribot ... Pianist
Pierre Julien ... Impresario
Humbert Balsan ... Impresario's Friend
Serge Marquand ... Night Club Owner
Muriel Montossé ... Marjorie
Caroline Loeb ... Nun
Jeffrey Kime ... James
Shirley Allan ... Adriana
Anne-Marie Brissonière ... Les Oiseaux
Marie-France De Bourges ... Les Oiseaux
Brigitte Hermetz ... Les Oiseaux
Josine Comellas ... Café Patronne
Romain Brémond ... Youth
Arlette Spetelbroot ... Drowned Girl
Monique Mauclair ... Hotel Concierge
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Bonnafet Tarbouriech ... Prison Guard (uncredited)
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Directed by
James Ivory 
 
Writing credits
Jean Rhys (novel)

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (screenplay)

Michel Maingois (French dialogue)

James Ivory (screenplay) uncredited

Produced by
Humbert Balsan .... associate producer
Connie Kaiserman .... associate producer
Jean-Pierre Mahot .... producer (as Jean-Pierre Mahot de la Querantonnais)
Ismail Merchant .... producer
 
Original Music by
Richard Robbins 
 
Cinematography by
Pierre Lhomme 
 
Film Editing by
Humphrey Dixon 
 
Production Design by
Jean-Jacques Caziot 
 
Costume Design by
Judy Moorcroft 
 
Makeup Department
Jean-Pierre Berroyer .... hair stylist
Danielle Jacquillard .... assistant hair stylist
Ken Lintott .... makeup artist (as Kenneth Lintott)
Tommie Manderson .... makeup artist (as Tommy Manderson)
Marie-Madeleine Paris .... assistant makeup artist
Christiane Sauvage .... assistant makeup artist (as Christine Sauvage)
 
Production Management
Alain Depardieu .... unit manager
Jean-Marc Deschamps .... assistant unit manager
Jean de Trégomain .... assistant unit manager
Fabien Dufour .... assistant unit manager
 
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Hugues de Laugardière .... assistant director
 
Art Department
Robert Christidès .... set dresser
Jean-Michel Hugon .... assistant art director
Alain Laude .... prop man
 
Sound Department
Bernard Bats .... sound
Alan Coddington .... sound assistant
Michel Kharat .... boom operator
Richard King .... sound re-recordist
David Renton .... sound editor
 
Camera and Electrical Department
Pierre Abraham .... gaffer
Jacques Barbazange .... grip
Philippe Brun .... camera operator
Alain Dreze .... grip
Eric Dumage .... focus puller
Michel Gonckel .... electrician
Jean-Yves Le Poulain .... assistant camera (as Jean-Yves De Poulain)
Gilles Lienard .... electrician
Alain Masseron .... crane operator: Louma crane
Juan Quirno .... still photographer
André Thiéry .... key grip
 
Casting Department
Serge Marquand .... extras casting
 
Costume and Wardrobe Department
Keith Morton .... wardrobe assistant
Renée Renard .... wardrobe assistant
 
Editorial Department
Mark Potter Jr. .... first assistant editor
 
Music Department
Al Aarons .... musician: trumpet
Rudy Collins .... musician: drums
Vic Flick .... conductor
Vic Flick .... music arranger
Luther Henderson .... music arranger: song
Allen Jackson .... musician: bass
Mischa Levitsky .... composer: theme music
J. Leonard Oxley .... conductor
J. Leonard Oxley .... musician: piano
Benny Powell .... musician: trombone
John Richards .... music recordist
Jerome Richardson .... musician: tenor sax and clarinet
Marshall Royal .... musician: alto sax and clarinet
 
Other crew
Elizabeth Aldrich .... choreographer
Peter Ansin .... assistant to producers
Angelique Armand-Delille .... picture assistant
Jane Buck .... script girl
Marta Carliski .... press
Daniel Champagnon .... production accountant
Maurice Defait .... groupman
Jean De Gramont .... portraits
Brigitte Faure .... production accountant
Jacques Fontanier .... assistant to director (as Jacques Fontannier)
François Marcepoil .... portraits
Serge Meynard .... assistant to director
Hubert Niogret .... production controller
Fiona O'Connor .... dialogue coach
Jennifer Patrick .... dialogue coach
Jacques Quinternet .... location scout
Sylvie Richez .... production secretary
 
Crew verified as complete


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Additional Details

Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parents
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 more

Fun Stuff

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". more
Movie Connections:
Featured in The Wandering Company (1984) (TV) more
Soundtrack:
Arabesque Valsante more

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User Comments

   (Comment on this title)
10 out of 11 people found the following comment useful.
Bleaker than the real-life version., 4 November 2001
6/10
Author: Zagria from Ottawa

Abandoned in Paris with no work permit and no savings, when her art-dealing (illegal) Polish husband is sent to prison, Marya Zelli (Isabelle Adjani) accepts the hospitality of the Heidlers, Lois and H.J.(as Lois invariably calls him) which, probably inevitably, involves her providing bed service to H.J. The video box describes the Heidlers as a "freethinking British couple" - if you can accept a couple, with such limited self-awareness and inability to talk through their problems, as freethinkers.

The film is based on the novel by Jean Rhys, based on her own experiences with Ford Madox Ford who presumably had more going for him than H.J., or else he wouldn't be in all those books on the literature of the twenties. Apparently Ford helped Rhys with her novel, and after he tired of her body got her a ghost-writing job on the Riviera. Rhys' husband was out of prison and had abandoned her before she moved in with the Fords. Presumably her major motivation was her devotion to her writing. Marya Zelli, in the film is not a writer, and she stays in Paris because her husband is still in prison. She says more than once to Lois that if given 100 Fr she would disappear (back to England where she could legally work?) but she gets 250 Fr just before moving in with the Heidlers when she sells almost everything she has to the hotel concierge.

Thus while the film is of the desperation of no choice, Marya has in fact fewer options than the real-life Rhys, and the film ending where Marya is thrown on the mercy of her husband's acquaintance from prison, is very bleak, unlike Rhys' fate of being ejected to a writing job.

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