Quartet

Billy Connolly, Dame Maggie Smith and Michael Gambon star in this comedy about a retired group of opera singers who put on a fund-raising concert to keep their home running. This is the directorial debut of screen legend Dustin Hoffman, an adaptation of the stageplay by Ronald Harwood.

Lifelong friends Wilf (Connolly), Reggie (Tom Courtenay) and Cissy (Pauline Collins) are residents of Beecham House, a home for retired opera singers. Every year on Giuseppe Verdi’s birthday, the residents unite to give a concert and raise funds. But things derail when Jean (Smith) - a former grande dame of opera fallen on hard times, also Reggie’s ex-wife and the fourth and most celebrated member of their former quartet - moves in. As old grudges threaten to undermine past glories and theatrical temperaments play havoc with the rehearsal schedule, it becomes apparent that having four of the finest singers in English operatic history under one roof offers no guarantee that the show will go on.