Showing from Mar. 1: Quartet ***

Stars: Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Billy Connolly.
Director: Dustin Hoffman.
Rated: PG-13
Showing: Liberty Theatre. Fri-Sat 2.30pm, 7pm; Sun 2.30pm, 5.30pm; Mon-Thurs 2.30pm, 6pm.
Runtime: 98 minutes
Comedy, drama

Making Quartet, a film about life in the spotlight and the drive to stay in the game, doesn’t seem like much of a stretch — or a risk — for Dustin Hoffman. With a storied career that is still lively at 75, he certainly knows the terrain.

But instead of delving into the human psyche, as he’s done so unflinchingly in too many roles to mention — though I will point to the sheer range that took him from Midnight Cowboy’s dying gay grifter, Ratso, to a newly single dad in Kramer vs. Kramer— the actor’s first turn in the director’s chair is a genteel comedy.

No doubt it was Quartet’s heavy-on-the-acting, easy-on-the-action foundation that drew Hoffman’s attention. He has certainly stacked the deck in the casting department. Cherry-picking from the United Kingdom’s upper crust, the movie stars Maggie Smith, Billy Connolly, Tom Courtenay, Michael Gambon and Pauline Collins. You can feel the depth of their experience on screen.

The film, which Oscar-winning screenwriter Ronald Harwood adapted from his 1999 play, begins with a day in the life of Beecham House’s various eccentrics. The tightest bond is between three opera singers, who were once part of a quartet. Cissy (Collins) is a daffy delight. When she is not rushing to a forgotten meeting, she’s got music playing through her headphones.

Harwood has said he rewrote much of the dialogue to better suit the film’s stars and it does seem a good fit — tart for Maggie Smith, salty for Connolly, effusive for Collins and melancholy for Courtenay. The narrative is tightly focused on the group dynamics under Beecham’s roof — the upstairs/downstairs of the performing arts world — and of course, affairs of the heart. Life proceeds at a leisurely pace here; a game of croquette or a garden stroll passes for action.

In a theme that seems ever present in movies these days, Beecham House is in financial straits and facing closure. The remedy is the proverbial “let’s get the gang together and put on a show,” albeit with more panache. The gala will celebrate Verdi’s birthday with some appropriately challenging selections from “Rigoletto” and “La Traviata” in this excellent score (music supervisor Kle Savidge; Dario Marianelli, composer). The bursts of energy that accompany practices and performances are woven throughout and give the film much of its vigour.