Cheese Hoven Who would have thought that self-absorbed classical musicians could be so attractive to women? The second violinist is a bedhopper, sleeping around with a young fan (do quartets really have groupies?) while his wife, the viola player, is away, although she inevitably finds out. Their daughter, meanwhile, initiates an affair with the first violinist Daniel, who of course, is 'brilliant'. Not that we ever see him doing anything brilliant, but we are told he is.All this may remind you of the implausibly complex relationships of the old comedy series 'Soap'. Here however it is played in deadly earnest.The music over the opening credits gave me an early red flag of the empty melodrama to come. Instead of quartet music or something composed in the same spirit, an insipid orchestral piece is heard. This music gets more saccharine as the film progresses.The second violinist, when not bed hopping, is getting a bit tired of -ahem- playing second fiddle. Although he has been doing this successfully for 25 years.He's also angry that the brilliant Daniel does not want to play without the score in front of them. Although he has been doing this successfully for 25 years.So we have this brilliant musician who never takes any risks but is still brilliant and plays to packed auditoriums.Obviously this is a lot of clichés strung together and never really rises above it. But the main problem is a lack of resolution of any of its themes. The viola player leaves the 2nd fiddler, the 2nd fiddler punches Daniel, the viola player discovers her daughter's affair with Daniel, yet none of this is really resolved. We merely see the quartet playing together at the end and, to slushy music, in a scene designed to inspire us, they close the score. Wow. That's revelatory! The one good part of this is Walken's role as a cellist coming to terms with his incipient Parkinson's. He handles with dignity and his resignation at the end is actually moving.

bob the moo It was the cast list that attracted me to this film and really I knew little else about it than this and the title. The plot sees a string quartet struggling with the news that one of them must draw his career to an end as he faces a fight with Parkinson's; this leads to changes, confrontations and challenges within the tight-knit group, their families and acquaintances.If my very basic plot summary sounds a bit soapy then that is almost certainly because the film has the air about it – it is very much a NYC melodrama featuring the interconnecting relationships of a small group of Manhattan artists. There is illness and questions of mortality, there is a marriage in trouble due to many things which manifest themselves in temptation to affairs, and there are other sexual and professional tensions which bubble over with the slightest bit of help. It is a narrative that really doesn't do much that you don't expect and it is one that plays it out reasonably by the numbers; the classical number throughout gives it an air and edge that perhaps the actual content doesn't deserve but still, it is a decent film that is worth a look.The reason for that is the same which brought me to the film in the first place – the cast. We have famous names and faces here, but they are famous by virtue of being good – none of the main cast members are celebrities first and actors second. The most pleasingly surprising of them is Walken; I love the guy but he is a walking caricature of himself now, so it is good to not only see him doing a normal role, but to do it so well. He is not really the lead in the film as the lion's share is done by Hoffman and Keener, along with Ivanir making up the foursome. All are strong and it is necessary because their performances and the music is what saves the film from being a much lesser melodrama.In lesser hands this is what it could have been and, to be honest, even in this film it is a fine line at times. Mostly it works though – not ending up a brilliant film or even close, but a solid and balanced one thanks to the tone and the strong performances by a very able cast.

Robert D. Ruplenas What a pleasure to know that the film industry is still capable of putting forth rich, intensely layered, insightful character-driven movies like this one. Speaking as a musician I have to say that this is the most accurately insightful portrayal of how actual musicians work together that I have seen on film. And what a wonderful cast!! Christopher Walken and the sadly departed Phillip Seymour Hoffman live up to their usual high standards here. I had not been familiar with the work of Catherine Keener and Mark Ivanir but they acquit themselves well. Plaudits to all of them for working so hard to master the ability to look like string players. The richness of the story - the multiple personal conflicts among the players - analogized to an actual piece of music, the Beethoven op. 131, is a brilliant concept, beautifully executed. This is a totally involving and - in the end - moving story. You don't have to be a musician to be drawn into it, but it helps. It's a crime this flick never made it to the Oscars.

Alessandro Vincinni Pretentious film, with a weak plot and OK but unimpressive acting. The film pretends to show a psychological drama inside a famous string quartet. Instead it is very banal melodrama with a predictable and flat plot. Don't expect to learn new things about Beethoven or classical music from this film. One of the actors (Christopher Walken) is not fitting the role and this is poorly masked by barely showing his hands when he is playing cello. The other actors at least give impression that they had some violin training. This film is supposed to be about finding an ultimate perfection in music but the actual performance leaves much to be desired.