Daniel Silverman: Let's play Quintet!
On Quintet, Robert Altman’s dystopian nightmare from 1979 The plot of Quintet (reprinted from Altman On Altman, David Thompson, editor): With the planet overwhelmed by a new ice age, and finding no more seals to hunt, Essex returns with his pregnant partner Vivia to the city he left ten years before. Outside, dogs feed on the carcases of the old and sick; inside, the population are absorbed by a board game called Quintet in which the object is to kill one's opponents. Essex's brother Francha takes him to a game which is interrupted by a deadly bomb blast. Essex survives and hunts down the man responsible, Redstone, only to find someone has already killed him. In the pockets of the corpse are the Quintet tokens belonging to Francha and a list of six names — Redstone, Francha, Deuca, Goldstar, St Christopher and Ambrosia. Assumed to be Redstone, Essex visits the Hotel Electra and finds a game in progress but being played for real. Goldstar and Deuca are the next victims, and in spite of Essex's protestations, Ambrosia refuses to give up her role as 'sixth man', the person who arranges the killing order in the game. She in turn fails to dissuade St Christopher from trying to kill Essex, who ignores her warnings. But St Christopher dies in a natural disaster, and Essex kills Ambrosia before she can make her move. In spite of Grigor suggesting that he might make a great player, Essex leaves the city, following the trail of wild geese. The look and the feel of Quintet: essay coming soon... The sounds of Quintet: The soundtrack of Quintet provides a rich tapestry of aural images that greatly enhance the awful bleakness of a world in its final throes of death, exploiting a broad range of the sound spectrum. The highs are punctuated by the intermittent tinkling of glass, evocative of the crystallized snow and ice that cover this frozen world. We hear this especially in the main casino as we hover around the wholly incongruous glass chandelier that hangs above the set. Indeed, the chandelier could easily be mistaken for icicles when we see it for the first time, before it comes into focus. We also hear high squeaks and creaks as Essex searches the city directory, the cracked ice-like glass panes that swivel on rusted metal piping again evoke ice and cold. In the midrange, footsteps during the deathly quiet chase scenes are often accompanied by the muffled crunch of packed snow underfoot, so evocative of a frozen winter setting bathed in a quilting silence. Somehow, the role of the Quintet dice onto the wood or fabric playing board seems to enhance this effect: the role of dice--which may mean life or death for the players--has never sounded so bleak and helpless as in the world of Quintet. We finally come to the lower frequencies: the aching, rolling groans of the glacial ice are constant reminders that this is a world in its final stages. Mention should also be made of the wild dogs feeding on the abandoned dead, the awful sounds of human flesh being shredded, and tooth-on-bone, along with the low growl of the savage beasts, can only be described as horrific.
Music essay coming soon... Quintet Symphonic Suite, composed by Tom Pierson:
The influence of Quintet: Nonetheless, emulators there have been. Paul Thomas Anderson could not hide his adulation of Altman if he tried (and to his genuine credit, he doesn’t). While Magnolia (1999) intimately rubs shoulders with Short Cuts (1993) (both are ensemble epics consisting of loosely interlocking stories about modern Angelenos--somewhat like both Lawrence Kasdan's uncharacteristically excellent Grand Canyon (1991) and Paul Haggis's far inferior Crash (2004)), his superb There Will Be Blood (2007) initially seems to be a departure, in which he finally comes out from under Altman’s wings to emerge as a genuine original. Yet, as fine as the film is, the Altman influence is still very much present, albeit in subtle and surprising ways. Strange as it may seem, There Will be Blood may be viewed as Anderson’s Quintet. Both films have protagonists seeking a livelihood amidst inhospitable natural elements: Essex, seals from below the ice, and Daniel, oil from below the earth. Too, both protagonists find meaning and solace in the only one they love: the orphaned and pregnant Vivia, and the orphan H.W., provide a ray of hope for their respective dimming worlds’ brighter futures. As each protagonist leaves the wilderness for an inhabited settlement, his loved one—his only real hope—is suddenly lost to an explosion, events which harden each of them forever (unlike Vivia, H.W. does not die, but for Daniel, a hopelessly limited man, he is as good as dead now, and is ultimately shipped away). Both also find that nature is no longer their primary adversary. Instead, upon returning to civilization, it is religion, or rather, an individual who exploits religion to his own twisted ends (okay, well, yes, religion), that becomes the protagonists’ new and ongoing enemy. In Quintet we have Saint Christopher, the Quintet mystic, and Grigor, who ensures that the city’s inhabitants play by the rules of Quintet, even—or especially—to their deaths. The parallels to Christianity (perhaps in particular to Altman’s own reviled Catholicism) are striking (and strikingly obvious). In There Will Be Blood we have the preacher Eli. Both religious charlatans remain the protagonists’ adversaries until the last moments of the film. In the end, each adversary leaves his settlement—his fiefdom—to seek out the protagonist on his own turf (the ice, the sequestered mansion), and each meets his demise there. Meanwhile, Essex and Daniel hardly emerge victorious. They are broken men, and each retreats completely and presumably permanently into his own embittered isolation, awaiting the end of all. Credits: Production Company: Producer: Screenplay: Cinematography (Panavision): Sound: Editor: Music: Production Design: Cast: 118 mins The game of QUINTET (reprinted from Altman On Altman, David Thompson, editor):
Object of game: Equipment: Background of the game: As in the film, each player participates with a distinctive token: Redstone (Paul Newman), the mushroom-shaped token; Grigor (Fernando Rey), the starfish; Christopher (Vittorio Gassman), the scalloped cross; Ambrosia (Bibi Andersson), the red amulet; and Deuca (Nina van Pallandt), the ice crystal. Because the Quintet players in the film exist at a time in the future the earth and its inhabitants are near total devastation from a new ice age,
they live in constant presence of death. People all around them are freezing In the film Quintet, the most daring of the players expand their board game rivalry to compete with each other at a level of reality: the game's capturing order becomes a real-life killing order. The game becomes so real that in order to win the players must kill or be killed. In the film, successful Quintet players are forced to look out solely for themselves. They form alliances which are broken when they are no longer self-serving. As the capturing order changes, friendships and loyalties change. All of life, particularly mankind's feelings and motivations for survival, is contained in the game of Quintet. For the true Quintet player, life becomes a game, and the game is all there is to life. The Quintet game described here is, of course, a non-lethal versionof the one in the film. Nevertheless, the ingredients of intrigue, plotting and deceit remain to make it a thrilling contest for every player. But remember, wIhen you play to cheat death, be prepared for death to cheat you! Capturing Order: The Capturing Order follows the arrows. The player can capture the piece Ahead but in turn can be captured by the piece behind. Strategy Points: BARRICADE: A Barricade is formed when both of a player's Tokens occupy the same space. No other Token can land on that space or pass it. SAFETY SPACE: The spaces numbered VI (6) are Safety Spaces. If you roll a six on one diie, you may either move six spaces or enter the nearest Safety space. If you roll double sixes, you may move both Tokens into Safety Spaces, if you still have both Tokens. If you roll six and another number, and you have only one Token left and you wish to move into safety, you must take the other number first. You can remain in SAFETY as long as you roll a six or you can use the numbers you roll with your other Token. Let's Play Quintet: 2. To continue, the first player rolls again. He may move either piece the
total number shown on the dice. Or he may split up his move and move one Token the number shown on one dice and the other Token number shown on the other dice. MOVES MAY BE TAKEN IN EITHER DIRECTION. When a player rolls double fives, they complete the moves and get an additional turn. 3. There can never be more than two Tokens on any space at any time. 4. During each other player's turn, he tries to capture one or both Tokens of the player directly after him in the capturing circle. NOT NECESSARILY
IN THE ORDER IN WHICH PLAYERS ARE SEATED AROUND THE BOARD. You 5. Each time a player's Token is captured, the captured piece is removed from the board. After a player loses both pieces, he is out of the game and his Token is removed from the Capturing Circle. IMPORTANT: At this time there is a new capturing order. 6. If a player has only one piece remaining, he must move according to the numbers of both dice with the one piece (see rule 2.). 7. If a correct move lands a player on a space occupied by the Token that is trying to capture you, you are captured and your piece is removed from the board. 8. ALLIANCES can turn into captures! If a new Capturing Order happens and an old neutral piece that is sharing a space with you can now capture you, you are captured. 9. If a player is trapped between two BARRICADES and cannot move the full amount shown on the dice, he must forfeit that move. 10. If a player has a BARRICADE on one side and moving the other direction would make him land on someone who wants to capture him, he is captured! Getting Out of Safety: 12.. Example: A player has a space in SAFETY and he must move out. If the only correct moves causes him to end his turn on a space occupied by a Token that wants to capture him, he is captured! 13. Example: A player has only one Token left and it is in SAFETY. If that player rolls a six and a four, he must go to space four on that side before returning to SAFETY. If space four (IV) is occupied by a Token that wants to capture him, he is not captured since he did not end his turn on that space. 14. IN THE CASE OF ROLLING DOUBLE SIXES: When a player has two Tokens
and one Token is in SAFETY, one six may be used for that Token to remain in SAFETY. Then the second six is used by the second Token to move six spaces or to go into SAFETY. Got that? Cool. So let's play... In-Depth interview with Robert Altman about Quintet by James Delson, from Fantastic Films magazine, June 1979:
|
