{"id":382,"date":"2021-03-20T14:05:50","date_gmt":"2021-03-20T14:05:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/dementiafiction\/?p=382"},"modified":"2021-03-20T14:05:50","modified_gmt":"2021-03-20T14:05:50","slug":"quartet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/dementiafiction\/2021\/03\/20\/quartet\/","title":{"rendered":"Quartet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Based on Ronald Hardwood\u2019s successful stage play of the same name, Quartet<\/em> is actor Dustin Hoffman\u2019s directorial debut. The film adaptation\u2019s absolutely packed to the gills with wonderful British actors of a certain vintage. It\u2019s refreshing to see a film with so many meaty parts for older people. The plot\u2019s quite simple. Beecham House is a retirement home for elderly musicians and it\u2019s threatened with closure. When the movie opens Cedric (Michael Gambon) is rallying the troops. They\u2019ll organise a gala performance showcasing their talents in order to raise enough money to save their home. The gala\u2019s in need of a headline act and when Jean (Maggie Smith) moves into Beecham House, everyone assumes the concert is saved. Back in the day Jean was the star turn in a fantastic quartet comprising of fellow residents, Reg (Tom Courtenay), Wilf (Billy Connolly) and Cissy (Pauline Collins). You\u2019ll not be too surprised to hear that their plans don\u2019t go smoothly but eventually the gala concert takes place and the home is saved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the film depicts a large residential care facility, a number of the minor characters are living with dementia. The film makes much of their forgetfulness and general confusion but shies away from exploring the more difficult aspects of the illness. For the most part, this is a very gentle exploration of dementia. The older people are depicted as a little doddery, sometimes in a comedic fashion, but never angry or disturbed. The character of Cissy, played by Pauline Collins is given a little more scrutiny. She\u2019s clearly living with dementia. At the film\u2019s opening Reg and Wilf discuss her condition and agree she\u2019s starting to deteriorate. However, aside from several small incidents, (a fall which leads to a marked decline in her cognisance and a brief lapse in awareness when she tries to \u201ccheck out\u201d of Beecham House, mistaking it for a cruise ship), it is almost possible to dismiss Cissy\u2019s dementia as an artistic affectation or part of her \u201cditzy\u201d personality. I didn\u2019t find the depiction particularly believable although I thoroughly enjoyed her character and could see Hoffman was using this aspect of her character as a device to aid the plot and the comedy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quartet<\/em> is a thoroughly delightful film. It celebrates and champions older people and also highlights the importance of friendship and community. I\u2019m not sure it\u2019s the most accurate depiction of dementia I\u2019ve ever seen but it left me thinking it was heartening to see a character with dementia being allowed to perform and show that she\u2019s still an amazing singer. It\u2019s also lovely to see a depiction of the kind of support networks and community between older people I often come across in the real world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quartet was directed by Dustin Hoffman and released in the UK in January 2013 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Based on Ronald Hardwood\u2019s successful stage play of the same name, Quartet is actor Dustin Hoffman\u2019s directorial debut. The film adaptation\u2019s absolutely packed to the gills with wonderful British actors of a certain vintage. It\u2019s refreshing to see a film with so many meaty parts for older people. The plot\u2019s quite simple. Beecham House is a retirement […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":901,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[15,5,17,14],"class_list":["post-382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-films","tag-british","tag-carers","tag-residential-care-facility","tag-woman"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/dementiafiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/dementiafiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/dementiafiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/dementiafiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/901"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/dementiafiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/dementiafiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":383,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/dementiafiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382\/revisions\/383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/dementiafiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/dementiafiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/dementiafiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}