1
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“The Chorus” is a movie you have seen many times before. Cute, well-acted and utterly predictable, Christophe Barratier's feature debut delivers just what the advertising promises: a musician who has given up on fame takes a job as supervisor at a school for hard cases, and when he teaches the boys how to sing, they mellow out and begin to love him dearly.
Fond d'Etang, the name of the school run with iron fist by the stern Rachin (Francois Berleand), translates as "Rock Bottom,” but round-faced Clement (Gerard Jugnot) holds on to his good cheer. His cuddly exterior betrays a warm intelligence--apparently he knows that he is in the kind of movie where a little art will certainly tame the teenage beasts, and so he sorts the boys by their voices and starts a choir.
All the necessary types are present in the classroom: the cute small kid, the brazen thieves and hormone-addled thugs, and of course the surprisingly talented teacher's pet (Jean-Baptiste Maunier), from whose adult perspective the story is told. In the opening scene, we learn that he ends up in New York City as one of the "greatest conductors in the world"--just to make sure that everybody knows right away that this story has a happy end.
Forgive me if I sound cynical. "The Chorus" is told with skill and charm, and if you like to hear golden teenage sopranos, you will love the music. If you're in the mood to be uplifted in all the usual heartwarming ways--"Mr. Holland's Opus," "Dead Poets' Society," "Billy Elliot" and scores of similar films come to mind--"The Chorus" will not disappoint you. Disappointing, however, is that Barratier didn't pick a fresher subject for his first film, disappointing, also, that out of all the unique and innovative films that came out of France last year, this formulaic and obvious movie was picked to represent the country at the Academy Awards.
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Delightful, uplifting, beautifully acted film that fully deserved its Oscar nominations for both Best Foreign Film and Best Original Song.
The Background
Christophe Barratier’s The Chorus (Les Choristes) was an unexpectedly huge hit in France, to the point where it has reportedly reawakened a national interest in boys’ choirs. It’s doubtful that its influence on British audiences will be quite so profound, but it’s a hugely enjoyable film that plays like Le Societe de les Poets Morts meets L’Opus de Monsieur Holland.
The film was deservedly nominated for two Oscars (for Best Foreign Film and Best Original Song) and although it lost out on both awards, it did at least provide le grande spectacle of Beyoncé Knowles singing the main song at the Oscars, in French. Ooh, and indeed, la la.
The Story
Based on an obscure 1945 French film, La Cage Aux Rossignols (A Cage of Nightingales), The Chorus is predominantly set in 1949. However, the film begins in the present day when a famous conductor, Pierre (Jacques Perrin) is visited by an old schoolmate, Pepinot (Didier Flamand) and together they relive the arrival at their reform school of new teacher Clement Mathieu (Gérard Jugnot).
The young Pierre (Jean-Baptiste Maunier) is always in trouble, not least from the stern headmaster, Monsieur Rachin (Francois Berléand) and Mathieu takes him under his wing, particularly when he starts a choir for the boys and discovers that Pierre has a heavenly singing voice.
The Acting
Jugnot shines as Mathieu, despite (or perhaps because of) his occasional resemblance to Mikhail Gorbachev. His scenes with the children (particularly the young Pierre and Pepinot) are extremely moving, as is his unrequited crush on Pierre’s attractive mother (Marie Bunel). The scene where he learns that she is in love with someone else is heart-breaking.
There is also excellent support from the rest of the cast, from Berléand’s performance as the sadistic head to Gregory Gatignol as the school thug and Jean-Paul Bonnire as the kindly old school caretaker.
However, the stand-out performance belongs to Jean-Baptiste Maunier, who really does have -as the script says- the face and voice of an angel. Maunier was allegedly plucked from a choir group having never acted before and has now become something of a sensation in France.
The Formula
The Chorus conforms neatly to the Dead Poets Society template, even down to the O Capitain, mon Capitain scene. This is no bad thing, however. The film is extremely well made and enhanced by an intelligent, witty script. Beautifully filmed by Carlo Varini with realistically austere sets, it benefits greatly from its use of original music, written for the film by Barratier and composer Bruno Coulais.
In short, if you’re looking for a feel-good arthouse flick then The Chorus is the perfect film to while away the winter blues. Highly recommended.
3
Teaching below the college level is difficult, particularly in inner cities where there's no particular respect for learning in so many families. Shakespeare is part of the curriculum in many schools, though one wonders how effective such learning is at age 16 when maybe one out of every hundred in the adult population would go to a Shakespearean performance even if the tickets were free. If a teacher is hapless enough to get a classroom of orphans and delinquents, teaching is even more difficult. Add to this a European post-war time when orphanages would be full-up and society is still chaotic, and you have a recipe for disaster unless, perhaps, you taught a subject like soccer. That's still not all. Imagine that the teacher is assigned to a class of tough and lonely kids who are not even the same age–that varies from 8 to 13–and the guy with the chalk is not some young, handsome, athletic type that the kids might identify with but an aging, bald fellow, why, you'd say there's no hope at all. Oops, one more thing. The principal of the school, Rachin (Francois Berleand) is not at all sympathetic to the new teacher and orders that he call the school director "sir."
In Christophe Barratier's picture "Les Choristes" ("The Chorus"), this is exactly what happens. In 1949 Clement Mathieu (Gerard Jugnot) is assigned to a class in a Dickensian excuse for a school (actually filmed at Chateau Ravel, a medieval stone castle in the rustic province of Puy-de-Dome). He gives the Mr. Chips impression but he's not a bumbler, even if he falls on his face during his first entrance to the class. He is himself a failed and lonely musician, which adds depth to the story, particularly when he's counting on a fling with a mother of one of the students. Tossing out the French textbook, he believes that these kids can be reached not so much intellectually, but emotionally, through the universal language of music, particularly when the students themselves are actively participating. He forms these kids of diverse ages with voices from soprano to bass into a chorus, which the principal at first thinks ridiculous and never completely does a turnaround, but through the magic of music and by catering to individual talents such as that of a gifted singer, Pierre Morhange (Jean-Baptiste Maurier), he shapes up young people, accustomed to be punished by hitting and being locked up in the school dungeon, without violence.
"Les Choristes" is a feel-good picture but to its credit evokes only a pinch of gooey sentimentality. As a former teacher, I cannot quite believe that he could be so successful with this population of castaways and, indeed, director Barratier does not let us sit in the the dynamics from A to Z–particularly how he is able to get four-part harmony from the class. Seeing the result, we simply have to take for granted that the teacher does an A-1 not only with the kids but with himself: the failed musician is invigorated by the unfolding experience and takes to composing music once again–this time for the kids. The film is framed by a scene from the present day as one of Mathieu's former students visits the gentleman who was the gifted singer fifty-five years earlier, now a conductor of classical music famed throughout Europe. All this goes to show that if you can't become a success yourself in your chosen field–musicianship in this case–you can indeed flourish as one who inspires others to fame. "Les Choristes" is a charming paean to a most underappreciated and underpaid profession
4
Audiences love films about underdogs that overcome. One of the most beloved sub-genres in film history involves a seemingly controversial or unorthodox schoolteacher sparking the inspiration of students to rise above and achieve greatness. It's a familiar story that translates to nearly any era, setting, and subject. We've seen the effect of literature on a group of boys at a New England prep school in Dead Poets Society. Inner-city teens found confidence through calculus in Stand and Deliver. And then there's the transforming power of music, as shown in movies like Mr. Holland's Opus and Music of the Heart.
The French film Les Choristes (The Chorus) follows in this tradition and last year met with incredible success in its homeland, outperforming Harry Potter and other big budget film imports. Pretty impressive for the first feature film by director and composer Christophe Barratier, who adapted the screenplay from a little known 1945 film called The Cage of the Nightingales. The new movie's soundtrack features choral music by leading French composer Bruno Coulais and also became a surprise hit, contributing to an unexpected resurgence in classical youth choirs in France.
Clement Mathieu (Gerard Jugnot) brings light and life to a dark placeLes Choristes is set in post-World War II France, a time of social restructuring and economic recovery from German occupation. Not many movies have adequately dealt with what the French faced in the aftermath. Considering how many children were orphaned as a result, it's not surprising that the government instated correctional houses designed to discipline with military strictness—"Spare the rod, spoil the children."
Gerard Jugnot, as Clement Mathieu, directs the boys choirOne such school is L'Fond de L'Etang, which literally means "Rock Bottom," an old French castle that looks very much like a prison. When mild-mannered Clement Mathieu (popular French actor Gerard Jugnot) arrives to take a position as the new assistant teacher, he is immediately plunged into an educational system nightmare. His colleagues humorously introduce themselves by giving the names of the worst troublemakers. Headmaster Rachin (Francois Berleand) has the cold, hard demeanor of a warden, delivering swift punishment to anyone caught inciting trouble. And the boys behave as if discipline were an alien concept, pouring their efforts into driving the new teacher away for the next one in line to arrive.
However, Mathieu is not like other teachers (after all, who else would want this job?) and he sees great potential in the students. All they know is Rachin's disciplinary motto, "Action, reaction." But instead of resorting to similar violence, Mathieu demonstrates patience and love, using their taunts to teach. When he finds that the boys have some ability for singing through their schoolyard chants, he reawakens his abandoned passion for music and decides to begin a choir to promote unity and harmony.
Jean-Baptiste Maunier, as Morhange, has an angelic voiceLes Choristes is a film of great beauty and sweet intentions, offering a strong theme of grace vs. punishment—compassion of the heart in contrast to the hard discipline of the law. How one seemingly small act can transform so many lives, treating the kids like people instead of criminals. The film starts off well enough, appropriately building tension between Mathieu and both the children and the headmaster. Jugnot gives his role the necessary sweetness and believability, easily allowing the audience to want to see Mathieu succeed with his good intentions and gentler methods.
Unfortunately, the movie has a sloppy flow that relies too heavily on little clichés. This is a movie about transformed lives, yet the film cuts corners when it comes to the process of transformation. Mathieu decides to start a choir, and we see the first day of practice. From there, the choir's progress is generally detailed with Mathieu's occasional journal entries, and we're to believe that a group of boys go from complete inexperience to Vienna Boys Choir in a matter of two months, which for the film audience is a change from ragamuffins to star attractions in less than 30 minutes. Missing are scenes of Mathieu truly connecting with the kids, watching them light up with newfound musical passion.
