The Basileus Quartet (1983)
The lives of the surviving members of the Basileus Quartet, a chamber group that has been playing successfully around the world for more than 30 years, are turned upside down after the death of the leader, Oscar Guarneri. The three aging musicians decide to split up to pursue those pleasures they've denied themselves too long.
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Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
Did you people see the same film I saw?
I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.
It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
The film shows the renewal of a famous String Quartet after the replacement of its 1st violin, who dies of a heart attack during a concert, by a violinist who just left college. The period is intensively enjoyed but does not last - it is much like a "coda" in the lives of three old musicians.Instead of leaving music on the background, this film let great composers (Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert and others) speak intimately through some of their known chamber works. A string quartet may be similar to a symphony in many aspects. However, compared to a birthday's party, it is more like meeting a few old friends at pub's counter than inviting two hundred guests for dinner near the swimming pool.The film allows music to be expressed in situations other than the stage, showing it in relation with live. Ironically, it shows the tragedy of individuals dedicated to a genre which demands deep interaction with the audience. Remarkable Chamber Music from the 18th to the 20th Centuries find in the individual tragedies an adequate background, thus reaching a particularly dramatic character.In my opinion, this almost unknown work of art deserves mention at a higher place - probably close to Milos Forman's Amadeus.