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Quartet – 1981 Ivory
- Period elegance from Merchant Ivory. Set in 1927, trendy society in New York- but it’s a dog eat dog world—the young and beautiful innocent Isabelle Adjani (great casting) is almost served up as lunch or Red Riding Hood to rich Alan Bates and Maggie Smith
- Beautiful wallpaper historical décor and detail
- Not sure they’re in any scenes together in Gosford Park but Bates and Maggie Smith would team up again in Altman’s film 20 years later
- It’s not Goodfellas but there’s a gorgeous long tracking shot of the three arriving at a party and going down the stars and even shaking hands with the maître d’
- Graceful zooms in on Maggie Smith in big emotional moments

- Bates is effective as a bruiser—Smith uses Adjani for her paintings and to profit (socially more than economically) on lies about her background and Bates uses her for sex
- Like most of Merchant Ivory there’s nudity
- Hate the sloppy wipe edit for the first time with about 20 minutes left
- Talk of “playing the game”- very dog eat dog- somber, even leaning on apocalyptic ending
- Recommend but not in the top tier of 1981
Drake2020-07-03T10:30:02+00:00
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