A Late Quartet

Janet, Moiya, Bonnie and I saw A Late Quartet last night, thanks to the TIFF’s Film Circuit who cosponsor with the 38^th Season of Shuswap Film Society to bring art films to this community.  Volunteers sell the tickets, take the tickets and have complimentary coffee and cake ready for the patrons before hand.  The background music of the film is Beethoven’s String Quartet #14, so many of those melodies there are written on my musical soul for the first time.  There was a little Ogden Nash poem thrown in, a little T.S. Elliot description of time past, present and future; mostly the film was a good chance to see what happens when musicians who have played together for years have to re-evaluate their entire lives when one of them is diagnosed with Parkinson’s.  We were at the 5 pm show.  Half way through the movie, Bonnie leaned over and said, “Let’s stay for the 7:30 pm showing and see this again.”

She forgot that wasn’t possible because she had arranged a hot-tub party for 8 pm in the evening.  Women who can get their babies in bed and asleep can gather in a hot tub and update each other on a whole week of happenings.  These are women who only pass each other in the halls of the workplace and eat their lunches at their computers.  I go along to the hot tub party – their topics move from Downton Abbey, to books they are reading, to the latest antics of their children and sometimes a workplace story or two is thrown in.

When I was leaving the theatre I counted back to see which row I had been sitting in.  Fourth from the back on the left hand side of the theatre, and two in.  Well into the film, I felt something wet splash on my knee.  I looked over to see if Janet was having trouble with her drink, but it was safe in the cup holder.  Then I wondered if she was crying in the film, but then why wouldn’t gravity take the tears straight to the ground in front of her and not send them at a 45 degree angle over onto my knee. Through my mind flashed the possibility someone having a water gun and I was their target but any of my friends who might do that were not with us last night.  Now my mind was 90 % on the movie and 10% trying to figure out why a huge drop of water would fall in the same place on my right knee at regular intervals.  On the way home Janet told me that the Salamar Classic Theatre has a government grant to do some renovations. Fixing the roof to that it doesn’t’ leak could be written into that grant.

Mystery drops of water, a terrific movie and a relaxing hot tub -- a lovely Saturday night.

Arta