By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 1.5 cats
Director: Christophe Barratier
Starring: François Berléand | Gérard Jugnot; Jean-Baptiste Maunier | Kad Merad | Marie Bunel
Original language title: Les Choristes
Country: france, germany, switzerland
Year: 2005
Running time: 96
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0372824/combined
Michael says: “After Eric Jausseran’s ‘performance’ at the 11th Annual Chlotrudis Awards last March, I had to give Christophe
Barristier’s THE CHORUS a try. Unfortunately, the little I expected from this treacly, sentimental French drama came to pass. A successful symphony conductor returns to the small town where he was raised for his mother’s funeral. There he is visited by a schoolmate that he hasn’t seen for 50 years, who brings him a gift. His headmaster, from a boarding school for troubled boys, kept a journal which he passed on to one particular student, who in turn brings it to our symphony conductor. Flashback about
50 years where we follow the headmaster on his first day on the job at this school. He is dismayed to find the administrator and teachers to be repressive, stern taskmasters with a student body of rebellious, trouble-making boys. Although shocked at some of the students’ antics (one of which seriously injures a schoolworker) he clearly sees that these boys are just misunderstood and not allowed to flourish under some nurturing guidance. Two boys in particular catch his eye (our two adult journal-readers, naturally). He soon discovers that our headmaster is a frustrated musician whose compositions have gone unsung. After hearing one of the students singing a naughty made-up song about him, the headmaster forms a chorus where the boys will sing his compositions. The future symphony conductor has a particularly flawless soprano, and he and the rest of the students miraculously find passion and compassion through music. Even the particularly rebellious student from reform school who is transferred into the boys’ school, is misunderstood and ultimately redeemed.
“While some might find THE CHORUS touching and sweet, I found it pretty hard to take. Dickensian in its harshness toward children, but pretty syrupy in its message, THE CHORUS is a film you wouldn’t miss if you skipped. 1.5 cats”