Duet for One Blu-ray Review

Julie Andrews’ most effective dramatic performance in films thus far has been in Andrei Konchalovsky’s Duet for One, a rather startling cinematic adaptation of a two-character play.

The Production: 3.5/5

Julie Andrews’ most effective dramatic performance in films thus far has been in Andrei Konchalovsky’s Duet for One, a rather startling cinematic adaptation of a two-character play where an artist comes to grips with her mortality. While the film’s tone is wildly uneven and the direction twists from melodramatic excess to incisive character delineation, Duet for One certainly gives its starry cast signature moments in which to shine.

Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, virtuoso violinist superstar Stephanie Anderson (Julie Andrews) comes to the abrupt realization that her comfortable and exciting world of acclaim and renown is coming to an end. Her open-minded marriage to conductor/composer David Cornwallis (Alan Bates) is tottering as he contemplates a life with his secretary/assistant (Cathryn Harrison), her most acclaimed protégé Constantine Kassanis (Rupert Everett) has decided to go for the big bucks by performing trick concert pieces in Las Vegas, and her scowling psychiatrist Dr. Louis Feldman (Max von Sydow) offers no solace as he warns her against succumbing to the depression she’ll be feeling over the end of her concert career. With her life completely splintered, Stephanie seems to be twisting in multiple directions.

Playwright Tom Kempinski has adapted his stage work for the screen with the assistance of Jeremy Lipp and director Andrei Konchalovsky. Events discussed in her psychiatrist’s office in the play are now opened up on screen with the various characters from her life. Despite these additions, however, the best scenes in the movie, the ones which might have even been developed more, are the remaining sequences featuring just Stephanie and Dr. Feldman. Through it all, we’re witness to Stephanie’s dealing with the seven stages of grief: her shock and denial are brilliantly covered in an upsetting chamber performance on her birthday and then a nightmarish concert sequence which are by far the best directed moments of the movie. The sequences with anger, particularly a poorly written spat between husband and wife as she castigates his minor talent in comparison to her own, are the film’s nadir, but her bargaining with fate as she enjoys a new sexual liaison with scrap man Totter (Liam Neeson) returns the film to a more even keel (and offers the buxom Ms. Andrews and the buff Mr. Neeson some choice dramatic and pictorial moments). As the doctor intimated, suicide for Stephanie does enter the picture which offers Sigfrit Steiner as her accompanist Leonid Lefimov (whose fondness for Scott Joplin gives a lovely lilt to some portions of the picture) a moment to shine. Unfortunately, the script brings him back for a less effective cameo late in the movie. In the end, the unsteady ride we’re taken on as she traverses her grief levels hits peaks and valleys throughout the 107-minute running time, but it’s a journey worth taking.

Julie Andrews had never quite been given such a rich role to act in a film before this one, and it’s little wonder she jumped at the chance to play it. She does a more the decent job masquerading as an accomplished violinist, and the ups and downs she experiences during the story (both figurative and literal) are well within her grasp. Alan Bates gives a more erratic performance as her wayward husband. The part isn’t particularly well written, but Bates seems alternately artificial or aloof from the character most of the time. Better are Max von Sydow as the skittish Dr. Feldman and Rupert Everett as kooky protégé Constantine Kassanis. Sydow is wonderfully reunited with Julie Andrews twenty years after their co-starring together in Hawaii while Everett and Andrews would be reunited in the years to come in the third Shrek movie. Margaret Courtenay plays Stephanie’s agent with conviction, and Cathryn Harrison does what she can with Penny, the lover/assistant in this unconventional open marriage situation in which she finds herself. Liam Neeson’s scenes as the down-to-earth jumble dealer are a tonic in the naturalness and appealing nature of his performance.  

Video: 5/5

3D Rating: NA

The film’s 1.85:1 theatrical aspect ratio is faithfully delivered in this 1080p transfer using the AVC codec. Sharpness and color accuracy are excellent throughout with close-ups revealing appealing and natural flesh tones. The clarity of the image allows us to notice the many fake spectators planted throughout the audience in the Albert Hall sequence. The movie has been divided into 8 chapters.

Audio: 5/5

The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo sound mix offers a very appealing audio experience. The Bach violin pieces and other classical music gets nice spread through the soundstage. The dialogue has been excellently recorded and has been mixed with the music and sound effects masterfully. There are no problems with age-related hiss, crackle, pops, or flutter.

Special Features: 2.5/5

Audio Commentary: film historian Daniel Kremer offers a rather rambling commentary dealing too much with the careers of the personnel involved in the film’s making rather than discussing in detail the film which is playing in the background.

Theatrical Trailer (2:40, HD)

Kino Trailers: Maria’s Lovers, Runaway Train, Thoroughly Modern Millie.

Overall: 3.5/5

Andrei Konchalovsky’s Duet for One, a study of an artist struggling physically and psychologically with debilitating health issues, offers some variable performances from a raft of stars and is no feel-good movie, but it you want to see the apex of Julie Andrews’ dramatic film career, this is it. The Kino Lorber Blu-ray offers wonderful picture and sound to bolster the proceedings.

Duet for One [Blu-ray]

(17)

30% Off $24.95 $17.42

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Matt Hough

Matt has been reviewing films and television professionally since 1974 and has been a member of Home Theater Forum’s reviewing staff since 2007, his reviews now numbering close to three thousand. During those years, he has also been a junior and senior high school English teacher earning numerous entries into Who’s Who Among America’s Educators and spent many years treading the community theater boards as an actor in everything from Agatha Christie mysteries to Stephen Sondheim musicals.