8/04/2012

"Action - Reaction"

Title: Les Choristes (The Chorus)
Year: 2004
Genre: Drama, Musical
Director: Christophe Barratier
Writer: Georges Chaperot and René Wheeler (1945 story "La Cage aux rossignols"), René Wheeler and Noël-Noël (1945 screenplay "La Cage aux rossignols"), Christophe Barratier (screen story), Christophe Barratier y Philippe Lopes-Curval (screenplay)
Runtime: 97min
Cast: Gérard Jugnot, Jean-Baptiste Maunier, Maxence Perrin, François Berleand, Marie Bunel, Grégory Gatignol, Kad Merad
Produc.: Vega Film, Banque Populaire Images 4, CP Medien AG, Canal+, Centre National de la Cinematographie (CNC), Dan Valley Film AG, France 2 Cinéma, Galatée Films, Novo Arturo Films, Pathé Renn, Productions, Procirep
Budget: €5.500.000 million approx.

In The Chorus, Pierre Morhange (Jacques Perrin) is a French conductor, who is in New York, when he has to go back home, due to his mother´s death. After the funeral he meets with Pépinot (Didier Flamand), a boarding school classmate, and with whom he will recall those times when their lives were touched by the wonderful Clément Mathieu (Gérard Jugnot).
Someone knocks on the door. Pierre opens to a person that he does not recognize. His visitor, however, seems quite sure, that this is not true. To Pierre´s surprise, it is Pépinot. The thing is, it has been fifty years, since they last saw each other.
Pierre invites Pépinot to pass, at which point they begin to talk about when they were pupils. Pierre is particularly interested in knowing what happened to Mathieu, whose diary he has never heard of, and which Pépinot himself, discloses to him now.
This is the film´s prologue, where their experiences in Fond de L'Etang (Bottom of the Pond) are told to us through this diary.
It all goes back to a Saturday in 1945, when Mathieu arrives at the boarding gates. There he meets a very still and quiet child, who, behind the gate, seems to be waiting for something to happen. Later on, Mathieu will find out that the child is Pépinot. An orphan who, every Saturday waits for the arrival of a father, he refuses to accept, has already died.
Mathieu presents himself as the new caretaker, to a staff that does not bother to give him a warm welcome, or speak well of the pupils. Quite the contrary, they only know to describe him unruly boys, who have no respect for the adults.
One as a spectator, even without having seen anything yet, should already be getting an idea, of how things are really. Childhood is the stage where we need, more than ever, to be understood and heard, and attention and understanding are something that these children do not know. It happens that Rachin (Francois Berleand), the boarding school’s director, is a jerk, an egomaniac, and a complete grumpy. Personal issues have led him to vent his anger on those who do not deserve it, and to abide by a ruthless code of: "action - reaction", where any misconduct is severely punished. Rachin and his minions seem to be always eager to indiscipline, as if the confinement in the "dungeon" was the greatest of their pleasures. They are very good, penalizing mistakes, and very bad, rewarding their few successes.
Mathieu begins to fulfill his functions, to what he immediately discovers that what he had been told before was not a lie. In there, there are problems indeed. Despite this, he has trouble getting used to that "action - reaction" thing, and neither he likes the children to be locked up. But then, of course...., Mathieu, unlike the mentally incapable of Rachin, him, with or without problems, does have patience and listening skills. Both essential, if something good wants to be obtained from these children. Then, he comes up with an idea, and he intends to replace punishment with music. Basically, he wants to make the children realize that yes, they are worth it, and that yes, they count for something.
The new caretaker comments to Rachin his intention to form a choir, as it is not a matter of, coming one day and start doing whatever he pleases. The director, bitter, as usual, never smiles or encourages him, for his idea. He merely shows his disdain, and warns him of what could happen if things went out of control.
                Soon, Mathieu has had the children tested, has separated them by the type of voices, and has formed a choir. Soon, too, certain incidents lead Rachin to forbid him to carry on with his experiment. This is when things get even more interesting, because Mathieu disobeys, and practices, then, on the sly.
From now on, whenever the children sing, it will be a magical moment of pure beauty, and where Rachin will have momentarily become something distant and harmless. Mathieu also establishes, throughout the film, a very special bond with two of his students, Pépinot and Morhange. These are those, who tell us the story, from the beginning.
Once, I read a famous line from Alfred Hitchcock´s, in which he said: "Never work with children, animals or Charles Laughton." The truth is, I have no details on Laughton, but I do know of the nerves he suffered, when filming with kids and dogs. Something tells me that this English man must have been a director of little patience. Because after enjoying the choir of pupils from Christophe Barratier, it is difficult to think that these children could be so rowdy.
The actor’s direction here is superb. So is the way the kids get into their characters. This makes me think that, unless those children were then, dubbed by other chorus, Jean-Baptiste Maunier and his companions must have loved those moments, where the director said action, so that they could have fun with their voices.
In The Chorus, each scene has these child actors, who, far from being of stone, one can understand their feelings, either, they suffer or they laugh. One can see how Mathieu goes from being a teacher, not only to become a choir director, but also a therapist. Because sometimes, it is not a master's degree in psychology what is needed to help, but to know to listen to the other and to be able to feel compassion.

My rating: 8/10


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