A Late QuartetMovie Reviews


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Avg. Critic Score: 67 out of 100 Generally favorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
16 OK for kids 16+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 88
    New York Post | Lou Lumenick

    Walken was largely typecast in quirky roles as a result of playing the title character's brother in "Annie Hall," so it's something of a delightful irony that 35 years later, Walken finds his most rewarding role leading a terrific ensemble in what amounts to one of the best Woody Allen movies that Allen wasn't involved in making. Read full review

  • 88
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    A Late Quartet does one of the most interesting things any film can do. It shows how skilled professionals work. Read full review

  • 75
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    Grace notes abound in A Late Quartet, a small, shining gem of a movie that works its way into your heart with insinuating potency of music. Read full review

  • 75
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    For those willing to enter this world and pay attention, A Late Quartet provides distinct and uncommon satisfactions. Read full review

  • 75
    Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

    The title refers not only to particular music by Beethoven but also to the fictional string quartet of Yaron Zilberman's fussily genteel, overplotted Manhattan tale in which interpersonal stresses build to a crescendo when one of the foursome becomes ill. Read full review

  • 75
    The Globe and Mail (Toronto) | Liam Lacey

    The screenplay by Seth Grossman and Israeli-American director Yaron Zilberman is old-fashioned and melodramatic but stirring in its portrait of people struggling with individual egos to produce something nobler than themselves. Read full review

  • 70
    NPR | Ella Taylor

    It's rare these days to see an old-fashioned, elegant chamber-piece movie about life and art - let alone one with Christopher Walken as, of all things, a steadying influence. Read full review

  • 63
    New York Observer | Rex Reed

    Playing the cello is such a pleasant change of pace that he (Walken) eventually grows on you, scene by scene, proving for the first time since his role as Leonardo DiCaprio's troubled father 10 years ago in "Catch Me If You Can," that he really can act. He - along with the rest of the elegant cast - keeps A Late Quartet in tune when it threatens to go flat. Read full review

  • 63
    Boston Globe | Ty Burr

    The performances are worth a look, especially since Christopher Walken so rarely gets to play a sane person. Read full review

  • 60
    The Hollywood Reporter |

    The film mines both the relationship issues and the Upper East Side neighborhoods of Woody Allen's best work, but could use an added dose of the Woodster's jokes to spruce up a self-serious scenario that hits the right notes about half the time. Read full review

View more reviews for A Late Quartet on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says OK for kids 16+ Drama about musicians has great acting, some mature content.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that A Late Quartet examines the inner workings of a world-famous string quartet that's thrown into disarray when one of the musicians is diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. Long-buried rivalries -- some petty, others more significant -- are revealed as the three remaining players try to come to grips with their new reality, and not everyone behaves like a mature adult. Expect some bitter arguments, occasional swearing (including "s--t"), and a brief fistfight, as well as a few sex scenes (including one with a nude woman moving up and down over a man) and several people drinking wine and other beverages in social situations.
  • Families can talk about the characters. Are they realistic? Are they relatable? Do you think they're intended to be role models?
  • What choices do the characters make? What have they given up? What is the movie saying about these decisions?
  • Some musicians who've seen the movie say they find it distracting to see non-musicians "play" their instruments. Do you think it's important for a movie about a specific talent to portray that talent accurately?
The good stuff
  • message true1 Positive messages: The characters struggle with the conflict between what they have and what they want and often get frustrated when they realize they can't have what they want. Some accept it more gracefully, and some try to make it happen anyway, often leaving chaos and destruction in their wake. There's a stark contrast between those who are mature and those who act like petulant children.
  • rolemodels true1 Positive role models: Peter is a rock, even as a life-changing illness effectively ends his career and threatens the group's future. He's dignified and noble as he tries to steer his colleagues in a new direction. Meanwhile, the quartet's other three members struggle not to be overcome by long-simmering jealousy and frustration, sometimes keeping their ignoble impulses in check and other times behaving like spoiled children who are upset that they can't have what they want.
What to watch for
  • violence false2 Violence: Two men get into a fistfight and knock over some furniture, though clearly neither is much of a fighter. A mother slaps her grown daughter during a heated argument.
  • sex false4 Sexy stuff: A married man has a brief affair with a woman who's shown nude, moving up and down over him in bed. A young musician gets involved with her older teacher, and they're briefly seen kissing under the covers.
  • language false3 Language: Relatively infrequent swearing includes "s--t," "a--hole," and "damn."
  • consumerism false2 Consumerism: A few characters use Apple computers.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false2 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Several scenes show people drinking wine or champagne at meals and other social events, and one man partakes in stronger stuff at a bar.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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