Quartet

A twisted relationship between a wealthy English couple and a young woman they take in, plays out against a stunning recreation of the Golden Age of 1920s Paris.

In adapting Jean Rhys’s 1928 autobiographical novel, Merchant Ivory achieved an artistic breakthrough that remains one of the team’s finest works. Isabelle Adjani plays the vulnerable but complicated West-Indian Marya, who, after her shady husband Stefan (Anthony Higgins) is imprisoned, finds shelter in the home of a manipulative and lecherous English art patron (Alan Bates) and his painter wife (Maggie Smith).

Nominated for the Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival. Nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Actress (Maggie Smith).

“The direction, intimate yet retaining a sense of distance, is true both to Rhys and to Ivory.” – Time Out Staff, Time Out