A QUARTET WORTH TUNING INTO

Les Musiciens (The Musicians) is a comedy that is not afraid to be intelligent. It’s a welcome cinematic entry for discerning moviegoers who care about more than superheroes and vampires. The engaging and well-paced plot is about the creation of an impossible concert by a quartet of musicians who’ve never played together, a piece of music that’s never been performed and four remarkable 17th-century Stradivarius stringed instruments that had never been seen or heard in the same place at the same time.

Amazingly, the actors who play the musicians really are musicians, playing not only their characters but the music performed in the film. It’s a movie as much for the ear as for the eye.

Mathieu Spinosi, Marie Vialle, Peter Garlitsky, Valérie Donzelli, Emma Ravier,
Valentin Pradier, Frédéric Pierro, stare at a violin that’s been dropped and damaged

The film opens on a dimly lit, warm and curvy wooden space that turns out to be the inside of a cello. Astrid Thompson (Valérie Donzelli), daughter of an industrialist whose company builds infrastructure but whose passion was music, is attempting to fulfill his final wish. She must secure the last of four Stradivarius instruments (he already owned three) needed to put together an all-star quartet for a one-time-only concert performance to be recorded and broadcast live. The piece, by reclusive and eccentric composer Charlie Beaumont (Frédéric Pierro), has been gathering dust for more than 25 years and even the composer has no idea what it is supposed to sound like.

Conflicts arise in the shape of egos and past entanglements, the corporate incentive to sell the instruments for the highest price versus the dead father’s dream, resentment over having to climb the musical ladder the old-fashioned way through academic training, competitions and performances, versus the new world of finding fame as an Instagram influencer; not to mention one very poor wi-fi signal.

The quartet rehearses with Beaumont

We’re in the instrument room as Astrid confirms the cello is authentic, made of the same wood as the two violins and the viola, which have never been seen or heard together, even in the luthier’s (Stradivari) own time. From the muffled quiet and warmth of the instrument room, we move to the sterile glass-walled board room, where Astrid’s brother, who runs the company (Nicolas Bridet) bumps up against her, as head of the company’s foundation, determined to honor her father’s wishes. She wants to buy the cello, despite an exceptionally high offer from a Taiwan bank to buy the other three instruments, but she convinces both brother and board that more profits will come from broadcast and recording rights than from selling the instruments. She’s given a limit of 10 million pounds to bid on the cello at auction. Which of course, she blows past.

Valérie Donzelli (Astrid) tries to persuade Frédéric Pierro
(Charlie Beaumont) to help the performers play his score

Action picks up with the countdown marking the number of days for rehearsals till the concert – and it’s a very short window. Director and screenplay writer Grégory Magne builds up small tensions carefully. Scenes shift from instrument room to board room, to church, to rehearsal and sleeping rooms, to dining and living rooms, to the outdoors on approach to the church and the manor, and ultimately to the performance. Nothing saccharine about any of this; it feels organic and real.

The performance will take place inside an intimate church where Astrid’s father often commissioned performances by renowned musicians. It’s busy in there, technicians setting up lighting, the stage, the recording equipment. And Astrid has to haggle with the priest, who knows how to cut a deal to benefit his charity work.

The damaged violin

Rehearsals take place in the father’s elegant manor house, which he built as a musicians’ retreat, deliberately keeping all the distractions of the modern world, particularly the internet, out. Hence no wi-fi in the house. But there’s a statue outside where there’s occasional reception. Some funny moments between scenes take place here.

As we meet the characters, it’s mere minutes before we witness the arrogance of first violinist and concertmaster, George (Mathieu Spinosi); the patience of more conciliatory second violinist Peter (Daniel Garlitsky), who is legally blind; the reserved elegance of his former colleague and lover cellist Lise (Marie Vialle); and young bleached blonde, super-casual Apolline (Emma Ravier), the violist, an Instagram star in awe of the opportunity to play with these musicians she so admires, but is unknown to them. Astrid’s father hand-picked the first three, but died before deciding on the violist, and Apolline’s 700,000 followers, as much as her native musical gift, caught Astrid’s attention.

Astrid (Valérie Donzelli) and Beaumont (Frédéric Pierro) finally like what they hear

As tension between the players mounts, Astrid must persuade reclusive composer Beaumont to come out of hiding to help explain how to play his score. He’s at war with himself over the music, too, but he becomes the elder statesman who finds way to coax the musicians to work together. Some disastrous moments could have easily derailed the entire project, including Astrid blowing up at the players out of frustration, an electrical outage, a badly timed misstep on a hike—but the show must and will go on.

Director Magne has given the audience plenty to chew on. The scenery inside the manor house speaks of wealth and privilege, the church is resplendent among the trees with its arched colonnades and lovely light (cinematography by Pierre Cottereau). One of the joys of this movie is that when we see closeups of the musicians’ hands, we are seeing the real deal, and not manipulated images of non-musicians pretending to play an instrument (gloriously imperceptible editing by Béatrice Herminie).

(Frédéric Pierro) as Beaumont, describing the music as a flock of starlings, darting
and dashing in unison as they become one, his metaphor for what a quartet should be

The music itself is moving, not discordant but not so melodic as to be stodgy (the original score is by Grégoire Hetzel). As it happens, Frédéric Pierro as Beaumont not only looks the part but is also a musician, with a very soulful face. He knows how to move, inspire and teach this foursome how to be a quartet, not just four musicians playing together. As he gives notes, the music begins to reveal itself and evolve. And secrets about Astrid’s father will also be revealed because he and Beaumont had a close personal relationship.

To answer a few questions I asked, the producers shared these facts: Daniel Garlitsky (Peter) and Emma Ravier (Apolline), both highly regarded professional musicians, are making their acting debuts in this film. Because of insurance requirements, it was impossible to have real Stradivarius instruments on set. Only about twelve Stradivarius violas exist, and maybe 60 cellos, so it would’ve been impossible to assemble a quartet for several months of shooting. However, one of the two violins used in the film is a genuine and precious 17th-century Italian instrument. The others are also period pieces, dating from the 19th century and were sourced from around 20 Parisian luthiers. The manor house is located near Reims, in the Champagne district of France and the church is in Meuse, not far from Luxembourg and Belgium.

I’m not someone who watches a movie again. But I did watch this one twice for the wonderful twists in the story and the masterful music it brings to the screen. Music is a balm for the soul, and in these troubled times, I found The Musicians to be a balm to mine.

photos courtesy of Outsider Pictures

Les Musiciens (The Musicians)
feature | France | 102 mins | French (with English subtitles)
opens August 8, 2025 in New York’s Cinema Village
August 15 at Laemmle’s Royal Theatre in West L.A.
more cities to follow
for more info and screenings, visit The Musicians

Sarah A. Spitz is an award-winning public radio producer, retired from KCRW, where she also produced arts stories for NPR. She writes features and reviews for various print and online publications.