The Chorus Movie Review:


A massive hit in France, this is an uplifting film in the Dead Poets Society mould, right down to a stirring captain-my-captain finale. It's also very well made, superbly acted and thoroughly entertaining.

Famous conductor Pierre (Jacques Perrin) is taken down memory lane when he meets his long-lost schoolmate Pepinot (Flamand). They relive the arrival in 1949 of Clement Mathieu (Jugnot), the new teacher at their reform school, where the young Pierre (Maunier) is always in trouble. Pepinot (Maxence Perrin) is young enough to just enjoy life even with the stern headmaster (Berleand) and several very troubled students. So Mathieu decides to start a choir among the boys, and its effect ripples through the school in various ways.

Sure, this is one of those stories about the power of art to tame the savage young male; but the script keeps us interested through sly wit and very clever details. And yes, most of the characters are stereotypes; but the cast bring them to life very well--Berleand's cruel principal, Jugnot's caring-and-spirited teacher, Bonnaire's kindly handyman, with the boys ranging from Maunier's prodigy to Gatignol's thug to Maxence Perrin's cutey-pie.

The school is called Fond de l'Etang (Rock Bottom), and it's indeed the worst place a difficult boy can find himself. Barratier films it in a refreshingly un-precious way--the sets look realistically grim, with bleak winter light giving way to the warmth of spring. But the film also captures the energy and exuberance of youth, even in such an intimidating setting. And there's a subtle exploration of the clash between idealism and realism, compassion and control.

But this isn't a message film. It's just a sweet and simple story about someone who wants to do something nice for the boys! This let's-form-a-choir tone is only slightly darkened by Mathieu's failed yearning to be a composer, as well as his tentative crush on Pierre's sexy mother (Bunel). And the boys' rowdiness feels a bit on the gentle side, really. But when you're watching a nice story like this, does it matter that real life is rarely this cute?



Rich Cline

Starting his new job as a supervisor in a boys boarding school, Clément Mathieu (Jugnot) finds that the children are ruled by a policy of ‘Action – Reaction’ by Principle Rachin (Berléand). This leads the boys to be rebellious, mischievous and unwilling to learn but he thinks that a new method will turn them around. Forming a choir, the boys find a togetherness that they never thought they would ever have, and Clément discover that the power of music can sooth even the most disruptive influence.

Once in a while a movie comes along that lifts you and fills you full of the joys of the human spirit, Les Choristes (The Chorus) is one of those films.

A film about a school of misbehaving, mischievous boys been tamed by music might not sound like the most appealing concept for a movie as it sounds the premise for a new ‘Reality’ TV show, but this film blows any misconceptions out of the water. Set in the late 1940s, we meet Clément Mathieu, a disillusioned teacher, who decides to hide himself away in a boarding school on the outskirts of Lyon. He enters the school to find it ran like a dictatorship with the boys just as disillusioned as he was. With a regime of excessive punishment, Clément tries another way of connecting with the boys buy forming a choir.

From the off, the movie grips you, drawing you into the characters and their situation. Told in flashback as the older Morhange reads from Clément’s diary, the story takes you through his time at the school. We are introduced to the tyrannical Principle Rachin played with just the right amount of malice and distance by François Berléand, who is everything a teacher shouldn’t be and sees himself as better than this posting, taking this shortcomings out on the boys. Kad Merad plays the equally disillusioned Chabert, who has lost all faith in the boys and just dishes out the punishment. Then we have the boys. Jean-Baptiste Maunier plays the young Pierre Morhange, one of the boys that has been labelled as a trouble-causer by the principle but has a real talent for music. Maxence Perrin is the young Pépinot, an orphan who refuses to belief that his father is dead and waits by the school gate every Saturday on visiting day. Finally we have Clément himself, played wonderfully by Gérard Jugnot, whose passion for music is re-ignited by the enthusiasm and commitment of the boys. This is a leading role played by a non-conventional actor, but this only increases the believability and your wiliness get behind the character and what he is trying to do for the children.

With all these strong characters, some of the boys in the choir don’t get as much development or backstory as they should do. This leads to you not been involved with the entire choir as much as you should be, as you really don’t know enough about them. However, this might have distracted you away from the main storyline and the performances of the lead characters.

‘Les Choristes (The Chorus)’ is one of those very rare uplifting films that will take you through a myriad of emotions. With exceptional performances, characters that you are willing to invest time in and a story that grabs you from the off, this is a joy of a movie that you will treasure for a very long time.

Jamie Kelwick

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