Quartet (1981)

Actors: James Ivory (writer), Suzanne Flon (actress), Maggie Smith (actress), Humbert Balsan (producer), Alan Bates (actor), Ismail Merchant (producer), Sébastien Floche (actor), Isabelle Adjani (actress), Pierre Clémenti (actor), Serge Marquand (actor), Daniel Mesguich (actor), Humbert Balsan (actor), Michel Such (actor), James Ivory (director), François Viaur (actor),

Plot: It's 1927 Paris. Following the conviction of her art dealer husband, Stephan Zelli, for theft for which he was handed a one-year prison sentence, Marya Zelli, originally from West India, moves in with her acquaintances, expatriate Brits H.J. and Lois Heidler. Marya knows that H.J. in particular has more in mind than just providing her lodging out of the goodness of his heart. From behind bars, Stephan encourages Marya to move in with them not knowing H.J.'s intentions. Marya agrees in part because she, being a foreigner, cannot get work and would thus become destitute otherwise. She learns she is the latest in a long line of lodgers. She also learns that H.J. and Lois' marriage is not all that it appears on the surface. The Heidler's hold on Marya becomes stronger when they convince her that Stephan not only has no money but has no future in France after his release. Their collective lives become more complicated when Stephan is released from jail and tries to figure out what he's going to do with his life to regain the high standard of living to which he became accustomed.

Keywords: 1920s, affair, based-on-novel, cafe, cake, church, coffee, concubine, decadence, female-frontal-nudity
Genres: Drama, Romance,

Quotes:

Marya 'Mado' Zelli: I'm so scared to be unhappy.

Lois Heidler: I hate people who try to get by with nothing but their sensitivity.

Pierre Schlamovitz: Nowadays, people live in a dirty way. There's no tradition. There's nothing beautiful.

Marya 'Mado' Zelli: You've got to take me with you. Away from them. Please help me.::Stephan Zelli: You must think I'm Jesus Christ.

Guy: Why is love like Rasputin? Because you can poison it. And you can stab it! And you can knock it down in the mud. But it will always get up. Don't you think that's good? Don't you think that's funny? Love will not die. It simply will not die. Just like Rasputin.

Stephan Zelli: [after Marya avoided his kiss] I don't blame you.::Marya 'Mado' Zelli: Will you just be kind to me for a little?::Stephan Zelli: A year in jail doesn't make a man appetizing.

H.J. Heidler: You just want to shut me off and shut me in. Make me into a tame husband.::Lois Heidler: As if anyone could do that.

H.J. Heidler: [to Lois] I'm not interested in being kind to anyone. I'm interested in them. In character. In forms of life. You should've married a stockbroker and stayed with him in South Kensington.

Madmoiselle Chardin: Every place can be nice, with a nice friend.

Marya 'Mado' Zelli: We always said we'd be together when you came out.::Stephan Zelli: You don't come out. Nobody ever comes out.