When cellist Peter Mitchell hears that he has Parkinson’s disease, his string quartet’s 25th anniversary concert also threatens to become its farewell, because although Peter himself fights to guarantee the quartet’s continued existence, his three colleagues think it’s a bad idea. The disappearance of their pater familias – played entirely contrary to type by Christopher Walken – moreover opens up old and new wounds among the three colleagues. Violinist Robert (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is sick and tired of literally playing second fiddle both professionally and in his marriage to viola player Julliette (Catherine Keener). In the meantime, the music lessons violinist Daniel (Mark Ivanir) gives their daughter Alexandra are slowly developing into something more. With Beethoven’s Opus 131 as its theme, Yaron Zilberman pays tribute to classical music, casts a loving look at wintry cultural centre New York and showcases four phenomenal actors who rise above themselves in their interplay as the string quartet.
