Quartet ★★★ 1981 (R)

A young French woman is taken in by an English couple after her husband goes to prison. The husband seduces her, and she becomes trapped emotionally and socially. Superbly acted, claustrophobic drama based on a Jean Rhys novel. 101m/C VHS, DVD . GB FR Isabelle Adjani, Alan Bates, Maggie Smith, Anthony (Corlan) Higgins; D: James Ivory; W: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. Cannes '81: Actress (Adjani).

quar·tet / kwôrˈtet/ • n. a group of four people playing music or singing together. ∎  a composition for such a group. ∎  a set of four people or things.

quartet (Fr. quatuor; Ger. Quartett; It. quartetto). A comp. for 4 vv. or instr. or the 4 singers or performers who sing or play such comps. (e.g. Chilingirian Qt.). In the case of perfs., qt. usually implies a str. qt., i.e. 2 vn., va., vc. But there are also pf. qt. (pf. and 3 bowed instr.), ob. qt. (ob. and 3 bowed instr.), etc. In opera, a qt. is for 4 solo vv. (e.g. in the last act of Rigoletto). The vocal qt. for unacc. vv. has existed since mid-15th cent.