Quartet

My fear before going to see 'Quartet' was that I would have to confess to having been to see a 'Sing-a-long-a-Sound-of-Music' type film. Nothing could be further from the truth.

It is unlikely that a film directed by Dustin Hoffman, and with a cast including the likes of Dame Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon and many other big names wold be rubbish. It isn't.

Filmed on location at Hedsor House, near Taplow in Buckinghamshire, Quartet is a quintessentially English Film. It's got British humour, pathos, some clever cinematography and a fair bit of music (but not too much).

I wondered whether a film set in a retirement home would be a trifle dull, but it isn't. I wondered whether I would be recommending it to my parents as a 'Must See' - I won't. Not because I didn't enjoy it, because I did. Rather however because there is a little bad language and also perhaps because of the ever present reminders of the often worrying inevitability of growing old. Maybe a little close to home.

Funded partly by the BBC, the film is typically short for a British Film (just 98 minutes), and enjoyable. It has the capacity to make you think. There was one thing that I did not like, but to say what it is would perhaps be classed as a spoiler, so I won't.

Quartet possibly won't appeal to the masses, so go and see it soon, because I suspect it won't be on general release for long. Otherwise I suspect it will be coming to a TV screen near you in the next 12 - 15 months.