The Chorus (Les Choristes)
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Movie Reviews of The Chorus (Les Choristes)
Movie Review: A French film about one of those school teachers who makes a difference
Summary: 5 Stars
"Les Choristes" ("The Chorus") is a familiar story about a teacher that comes into a school and makes a difference for students that nobody else cares about. Even when you narrow down the category to include teachers who use music you should be able to name enough movies in this genre to fill up at least one hand full of fingers. In fact, the only thing that might make this 2004 film different from the others you have seen from "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" to "Music of the Heart," is that it in French. That is because "Les Choristes" takes place in France.
At the start of this movie a man (Jacques Perrin) is awaken with news that someone has died. We learn that the man is a great conductor and when he goes home for the funeral there is another man (Didier Flamand) waiting for him. Many years ago they were students together at the Fond de l'Etang boarding school. Although this is not the best of circumstances, the other man has something to share with the conductor. The notebook of the man who was their teacher and who taught them how to sing. The opening page of the notebook is a sketch of the entrance to their school and the drawing transforms into a camera shot and we are back to the beginning of our story.
In 1949 Clement Mathieu (Gerard Jugnot) arrives at Fond de l'Etang to be the new prefect. His introduction to the students is when Rachin (Franciois Berleand), the head of the school, is disciplining the entire school because no one will admit to being the one who injured one of the teachers with a prank. Mathieu is a tad overweight and bald, so before the students even know his name they are calling him "Chrome Dome." He knows even less about the boys, but clearly he does not like the way they are being treated and he takes a series of different approaches in dealing with them. A failed musician, Mathieu hears the boys signing a derogatory song about them and uses that as the inspiration to create a chorus. His motives are not exactly pure, because I think his primary goal at first is to hear his own music being sung. But in time they move on to something more formidable (I think it was Jean-Phlippe Rameau's "La Nuit").
Three of the students stand out. Pierre Morhange (Jean-Baptiste Maunier), is one of the leaders of the boy and the least able to admit to having an interest in singing, but he has the voice of an angel. Pepinot (Maxence Perrin) is one of the smallest boys and an orphan, who believes that his father will come for him on a Saturday. The newcomer to the school is Mondain (Gregory Gatignol), a bully who is content to be hit over and over again because that is the world in which he lives. I appreciated the fact that Mathieu does not save them all, and that his legacy is not only with hi students but with the other teachers at the school. In a story that is fairly predictable, there is a grace note at the end that comes with what should be an unexpected turn of events. Beyond that it is the earnestness of the performances that elevates "Les Choristes" above other films in this genre. Your only complaint might be that you wish there was more singing from the boys once they get their act together.
Movie Review: A touching and loveable film!
Summary: 5 Stars
This film was excellent! Usually, I have lot of critcism for films, but this one, well, I loved it. Even though I belive some people, such as my best friend, a fanatical fan of Hollywood actions and lovecomedies, may not like it that much, I have to say it feels great to have a s.c. "oscar-movie" that leaves you with a good feeling when you turn of your TV. Lost in Translation, for example, and The Royal Tenenbaums were both overloaded with red roses and confetti, but to the "ordinary teenage-girl", they suck! They're full of hidden meanings and deep psychology. This one brings with it a clear message, and it's easy to watch.
And the singing's great. And 15-year-old soloist Jean-Baptiste Maunier raises himself up way over the rest of many others. He's got an amazing voice and it works excellently together with the rest of the chorus.
This film is about an unemployed supervisor/musicteacher Clement Mathieu (Gerard Deperdieu), who is about to fill in the place of another teacher who got cut with a knife of one of the students at a boarding school for boy orphans close to Bretagne, Fond L'Etang (Rock Bottom). The film takes place in 1948 - 49. When Mathieu first arrives to the school is the gardener Maxcence badly hurt in the eye, a culprit trick of one of the students. Mathieu sees the evil that dominates the school and with a slightly different method is he starting to change the childrens bad visions of life, put there by the mean headmaster monsieur Rachin. He especially takes care of the schools youngest student, Pepinot, whose parent's died during the Nazi occupation of France. One night, Mathieu discoveres that the children sing. Not good, of course, and probably only songs that are sexually related or allthrough mean, but they sing! He decides to give up his old promise about never teaching msic again and starts the choir.
And while all of this is happening, young student Pierre Morhange (Jean-Baptiste Maunier) is getting punished for drawing cartoons of the headmaster during class. Morhange is not an orphan, but he was sent to the school because he simply couldn't behave in any normal schools. Mathieu is told to watch out for him, because he has "the face of an angel, spawn of the devil". But Mathieu discoveres a wonderful gift of Pierres, he's got the most amazing voice. And when the joins the choir as a soloist, it sounds absolutley beautiful. Morhange's mother, Violet is very beautiful, and when she comes to the school for a visit, Mathieu falls in love with her. That is not very appreciated from Pierre. But Mathieu persuades Violette to apply for a scholarship for Pierre, he is wasting his time at Fond L'Etang. Of course, the chorus brings happiness and joy into the school, but everything threatens th break apart when the school accepts a new student, a pervert and pyromaniac.
I jst have one warning; you might get obsessed;P
Movie Review: A positive perfect storm
Summary: 5 Stars
Les Choristes was a perfect storm of enjoyment for me. I have worked with at risk youth for many years and I marveled at Clement Mathieu, the lead character in the movie, and his instinctive ability to grow in his role as a supervisor at what was a brutally run school for troubled boys. The way he was able to quickly find unique and individualized ways to bring the best out of boys who were rather feral and disobedient was heartwarming.
But more than anything as a singer in choirs since my own childhood, it is the exquisite music that makes this movie and the way music was used to `tame the savage beast'. Gerard Jugnot (the lead actor and co-producer) risked a mortgaged apartment to fund this movie and was rewarded with a box office smash hit that stayed at No 1 in France for most of 2004. I can see why. The movie is fantastically compelling and tugs on your heartstrings at many places.
As a singer who has heard and sung in choirs in the presence of professionally trained soloists, it is difficult to overstate the stunning beauty of the voice of supporting actor Jean Baptiste Maunier who plays the brooding and troubled boy Pierre Mohrange. All the singing for the movie was done by the famous Les Petits Chanteurs de Saint-Marc - a specially selected chorus of children aged 8 to 15 from Lyon in France. Maunier was LPCSM lead soloist but only he was also cast to sing AND act in the movie and he demonstrated that his acting is almost as excellent as his singing.
Many, like me, have greatly extended the pleasure of this movie by purchasing the soundtrack which only partially showcases the pure musical genius of this choir and the exquisite excellence of Maunier's voice. LPCSM toured France to sellout crowds and Maunier himself has become a super star there on the strength of his singing and has augmented his performance in Les Choristes with various other dramatic and teen acting roles.
If you YouTube LPCSM and JB Maunier you will hear them sing some of the most inspiring and beautiful pieces at a recorded concert they gave in Paris including breathtaking solo parts by Jean Baptiste that are simultaneously angelic and electrifying. This movie became the perfect showpiece for these twin gems and a most compelling ode to the notion that even the most afflicted child can be turned around and improved by love, attention, the power of accomplishment and the introduction to beautiful music.
Movie Review: one of the best feel-good movies of this genre
Summary: 5 Stars
We've seen them all - films from the teacher-student body drama genre. Dead Poets' Society, Mona Lisa Smile, Children of the Lesser God, Stand and Deliver, Mr. Holland's Opus, and all those sports flicks. The plot is typical - a group of students or a whole school of hooligans, handicapped, or privileged but uninspired adolescents transform into promising individuals who believed in themselves, thus challenging the common view that they are a hopeless bunch through the new revolutionary teacher. The teacher comes from out of town, unfamiliar with the new community, copes with their own personal failures and frustrations through an unintentional life mission, and as a result, does not sit well with the headmaster and parents, what with their with unorthodox teaching methods. Teacher struggles to reach out to students (main character usually a silent one, with untapped potential but happens to have extraordinary, scholarship-worthy talent), succeeds, but in the end cannot beat the system and eventually gets kicked out from the school.
Les Choristes is a French, postwar-set version of this well-known formulaic plot. Think, Dangerous Minds meets School of Rock. Typical of most European films nominated for the Oscars, it is both subtly dramatic and comedic. It has an entire cast of adorable little faces, making it easy for the audience to fall in love with the brats. The spotlight was really on cute Pepinot, the youngest student, who does not seem to have any reason to be in that school except that he was orphaned. The heartstring-tugging themes of teaching young minds to dream, making a difference, the power of kindness, music as a universal expression - we've seen them over and over. Even the farewell scene is predictable - if in Mona Lisa Smile, the girls chased Julia Roberts' car on their bikes as she drove off and in Dead Poets' Society, everyone stood on their desks to protest Robin Williams' dismissal, here, all the students flew paper airplanes with personal notes out the window to bid goodbye to Mathieu. So, what's new?
Nothing really, I'm just a sucker for charming European films like this and I won't even bother explaining how this movie is any different. Except probably that unlike most movies of the same genre that had their predictable tear-jerker parts, here I started crying about 5 minutes into the film and every 5 minutes thereafter. One of the best feel-good inspirational movies of all time.
Movie Review: Music and hope ...
Summary: 5 Stars
"Fond de l'Etang", France, 1949. Data with no meaning for you right now, but that has a lot to do with this movie. What does that data mean?. Well, it is the place and time that set the background for this wonderful story.
The country is France, and the date 1949, some years after the end of the Second World War. "Fond de l'Etang" is a strict school for troubled children, mostly orphans who have lost their parents in the war. They live more or less unhappy lives, wanting to play outside but forbidden to do so. They express themselves only through rebellious acts, to which the harsh director of the school responds on the basis of the principle "action-reaction". Unfortunately, that principle doesn't solve things...
One day, the arrival of a new preceptor disturbs the school's routine. He is Clement Mathieu (Gérard Jugnot), a frustrated musician that has arrived to this school only after having failed at a variety of jobs, and who isn't overly excited at the prospect of having to deal with a bunch of unruly kids. Things don't start well, due to the fact that the students don't respect him, and that he doesn't agree with the director's "educational" methods. However, one day Mathieu listens the children singing out of tune, and realises that he can teach them to sing well. As he does so, trust begins to build between them, and the students start to face life in a different way...
Clement Mathieu kept a journal during the time he was at "Fond de l'Etang", and it is throughout his words that we are allowed to "watch" what happened. The films begins when one of Mathieu's previous pupils at "Fond de l'Etang" returns to his home due to the death of his mother. The man, now a famous music conductor, receives after the funeral the journal of his teacher, and begins to read it.
This story doesn't seem to be overly special, but the film certainly is so. I cannot explain exactly why... Maybe the reason is that the director (Christophe Barratier) is very good, or that all the actors play their roles beautifully. Another important element that makes this a noteworthy film is, of course, the enchanting music that plays throughout the movie. Anyway, I think that you should just go to see "The Chorus" right now (if you can, run), and find your own reasons to love it :)
Belen Alcat