Movie: The Chorus (Le Choriste)
Starring Gérard Jugnot, François Berléand, Jean-Baptiste Maunier
Written and Directed by Christophe Barratier (Miramax)
Reviewed by Rusty Pipes

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The Chorus is a French film but it starts out in America where a famous conductor, Pierre Morhange (Jaques Perrin), gets word that his mother has passed away. An old chum comes to visit and from there the film becomes a memoir about his early days in a school for delinquent boys. It's 1949 and a new supervisor, Clement Mathieu (Gérard Jugnot), arrives to find a house of misfits overseen by a tyrannical headmaster, Rachin. He's not even gotten to his room when he sees the school's concierge wounded by a schoolboy's nasty prank. Rachin believes only in his own code of repression and demands that Mathieu hand out punishment to a boy at random when no one confesses.

His tenure starts roughly but isn't too long before Clement uses music to tame the wild beasts. Rachin is a tougher problem. Meanwhile he finds out that the future conductor, now played by Jean-Baptiste Maunier, is a fine soprano and works with him to get him to sing lead even though his only desire is to escape the school.

The story is extremely well acted, especially by Gerard Jugnot who looks precisely like what you'd expect a dumpy past-his-prime school teacher to look like, and the boys who sing are all in Les Petits Chanteurs de Saint-Marc Choir, who give us first rate performances,

A fine piece of storytelling, Christophe Barratier's direction is without frills and thankfully not too syrupy even when Clement makes a play for Morhange's mother. Of course the production's full of great music too, but the film's real value lies in making us remember the quiet travail of everyday heroes who bring good things to life without any promise of reward.

The Skinny:
Did I enjoy the movie? The notes come through beautifully.
Would I go to see it again? I'd certainly catch an encore on video.

© 2005 - Rusty Pipes