The film directed by Robert Altman, Quintet, is said to be one of the worst films ever made. The film doesn’t exactly tells us when the film takes place, but it shows that the setting of the film take place on an frozen earth with a few people left living. The protagonist of the film is Essex , a man who is fed up with his work in the north and decides to go back and look for his brother in the previous city he used to live in. Essex is traveling with his pregnant wife who tragically dies after they arrive to the city they were headed to. She dies because she decides to play a game called Quintet just like his brother and a group of friends he meets after his arrival. Quintet is a dice game that people in the city play to pass time. The players for the game are selected from the local casino, and they play one another with the goal of killing each other. The prize of the game is the winner right to stay alive.

Critics debate that Quintet is the worst film ever made because of its oddity and how confusing it is.  One critic says “It was a film that was a disaster on all levels but had the notion of being a masterpiece. And once it has been deconstructed, it clear that Robert Altman thought that he had produced and directed the best film ever made. But after reading this synopsis, it will be clear that he has not directed the best film of all time. He just snorted some really bad coke that went straight to his soul.” This critic then goes one and talks about how terrible the film was describing the plot of the movie and about the things that annoyed him as the viewer. Another Critic says ” Often described as Altman’s “worst film,” Quintet was immediately cast aside by both critics and the public, and there has since been very little critical engagement with the film.” This critic then flips things around and asks NOT how to interpret QUINTET but rather how QUINTET interprets the buildings it uses for a setting.

Now the question that probably everyone is asking, Is Quintet really the worst film ever made? In my opinion it is not. Although I would not recommend it to anyone because of its rarity and confusing scenes, I really do think the author successfully conveys the point he is trying to make. I believe the goal of the filmmaker is not to make a a normal film with a happy ending, instead  I believe  he is trying to portray chaos and oddity. He wants this film to be as extreme and rare as possible. It is obvious that the world he is trying to portray  is a world that is coming to an extinction and that is why his scenes might seem insane and confusing because no one knows what the ending of the world will be really be like.  No one knows what the last moment of earth will be like or what we will do to pass time and that is why he exaggerates because he is just trying to create an idea of what it would be like for the world to end. Although most critics would disagree with me, I really do think the filmmaker does a good job at portraying oddity and insanity.

I believe this is an unconventional film because although the cast was made up of famous actors like Paul Newman, Fernando Rey,  and Bibi Anderson, the plot line description is not seem in many movies today.  Also the audience doesn’t seem to understand the events that take place in the film because of how confusing the scenes are. I strongly disagree with the critics that say that this is the worst film ever made because I really do think the filmmaker did a good job portraying what a world ending will  be like, which is the main point of the film in my opinion.