Les Choristes Review
by Harvey S. Karten (harveycritic AT cs DOT com)January 10th, 2005
LES CHORISTES (The Chorus)
Reviewed by Harvey S. Karten
Miramax Films
Grade: B+
Directed by: Christophe Barratier
Written by: Christophe Barratier, Philippe Lopes-Curval Cast: Gerard Jugnot, Francois Berleand, Jean-Baptiste Maunier, Jacques Perrin
Screened at: Broadway, NYC, 10/7/04
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.
Not Rated. 97 minutes. © 2004 by Harvey Karten
@harveycritic.com
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