FILMS OF THE WEEK

THE BIG MOVIE

A Late Quartet (2012) 15 Saturday, 9pm, BBC2 This refined drama follows the upheavals experienced by a string quartet when its eldest member, cellist Peter (Christopher Walken, above), reveals he has Parkinson’s and intends to retire. Over the 25 years the four have been together, their lives have become entwined, not just musically, but also personally, and the announcement that they will no longer be whole starts a ripple effect through each member and their relationships. A crisis develops between viola player Juliette (Catherine Keener) and her husband, second violinist Robert (Philip Seymour Hoffman), when their daughter (Imogen Poots) has an affair with the first violinist (Mark Ivanir). In an involving study of a close-knit group falling out of time with each other, Walken’s subtle, moving performance is just one of many surprises. SA

CLASSIC FILM CHOICE

The Quatermass Xperiment (1955) PG Saturday, 1.05am, BBC2 Almost half a century on from the moon landing, space exploration holds little mystique for many of us, but the tantalising prospect that there may be life out there (in whatever form it may take) still fascinates us humans. In Hammer’s film version of Nigel Kneale’s ground-breaking 1953 TV series – only two episodes of which still exist – that ‘other’ isn’t out there at all, it is terrifyingly within. Cast to increase the film’s transatlantic appeal, US star Brian Donlevy plays Quatermass, the prof sending three astronauts to an almost certain death – only one of them, Carroon (Richard Wordsworth, above right), will return. But it soon becomes clear that Carroon is not necessarily the lucky member of the ill-fated trio, as he slowly but surely mutates into something ungodly. VT