A film about a fictional New York string quartet had its world premiere last night at the Toronto International Film Festival.

A Late Quartet, directed by Yaron Zilberman, stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christopher Walken, Catherine Keener and Mark Ivanir as members of an ensemble that is thrown into crisis when Walken's character is diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

The musical centrepiece of the film is Beethoven's Quartet in C minor op.131, which the group is seen rehearsing for what might be its last performance together. The Brentano Quartet provided the soundtrack for these scenes, and according to an interview with Zilberman posted on wearemoviegeeks.com, the cast had to learn about 30 phrases each to make the playing look realistic in front of the camera.

Zilberman added that he modelled his quartet on several ensembles: the Guarneri Quartet, the Quartetto Italiano and the Emerson Quartet.

The film will be released in the US on 2 November. A trailer can be seen here.

 

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