The Chorus

Name: The Chorus
Genre: Drama, Music
Released: January 14, 2005
Duration: 97 min
Rating: 56
Cast: François Berléand, Gérard Jugnot, Jean-Baptiste Maunier

2005

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Mixed or average reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 54 Ratings

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8.0	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 54 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Miramax Films | Release Date: January 14, 2005 | PG-13

Starring: François Berléand, Gérard Jugnot, Jean-Baptiste Maunier

Summary: When a music teacher takes a position at a boy's reformatory in 1949 France, he discovers the redemptive power of music.

Director: Christophe Barratier

Genre(s): Drama, Music

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 97 min

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Critic Reviews

Claudia Puig

An enchantingly beautiful and moving film. Read full review

Michael Wilmington

Like all good popular entertainments, the best of it sings. Read full review

Desson Thomson

Larded over with le fromage, which is to say, French cheese. But as these dairy products go, Christophe Barratier's movie is delectable sentiment. Audiences will crumble into itty-bitty pieces of Roquefort watching this. Read full review

TV Guide Magazine Ken Fox

Barratier has assembled an unforgettable gallery of faces both young and old, and prolific character actor Berleand plays the perfect villain. Read full review

Nathan Rabin

The Chorus plucks desperately at the heartstrings, but fails to breathe new life into a tired old tune. Read full review

Wesley Morris

The crime of The Chorus isn't that it's corny. (I like corny.) It's that its corniness seems programmed. Read full review

Ben Kenigsberg

The cinematic equivalent of filtered water, The Chorus is all smooth, nutrient-free clichés. This shamelessly globalized French Oscar submission even opens with a shot of an American flag--perhaps an unconscious declaration of defeat for importable Gallic cinema. Read full review

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User Reviews

KathyC.

Mar 14, 2006

Like Coach Carter, but for music. It's much better if you watch it in french with subtitles. AMAZING! I loved the music! :)

1 of 1 users found this helpful

tornanx

Dec 7, 2018

The movie made me journey to my childhood with tiny drops of happy tears. Music is legenday and acting is amazing. ı wish there would be follow ups.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

FilipeNeto

Oct 15, 2021

This film takes place in the mid-twentieth century, in a French reformatory for children who are orphans or who have had legal problems. The story is quite cliché, but it's extremely effective for the film, and it works wonderfully: it's a teacher's flashback passage through thatThis film takes place in the mid-twentieth century, in a French reformatory for children who are orphans or who have had legal problems. The story is quite cliché, but it's extremely effective for the film, and it works wonderfully: it's a teacher's flashback passage through that reformatory. He immediately sensed the climate of repression and anger experienced in the institution, and fueled by the brutal methods of the leadership. Disagreeing with this, he began to educate the children in his own way, eventually forming a small choir that helped at least some of the young people escape delinquency.

The film is very good and one of those excellent French films that is lost due to the lack of millionaire publicity and greater interest in European cinema. It's a familiar and friendly film, with uplifting moral messages and great music. Music works not only as a language to express feelings and communicate, but also as a therapy for the accumulated anger and frustrations of that group of children.

The film's cast is headed by Gérard Jugnot, an actor I didn't know yet, even though the face is familiar to me, and I really enjoyed seeing here. François Berléand gave life to the villain, the unfriendly and rude director of the institution, but he does a very good job and steals our attention whenever he shows up. The character lived at school with his wife and kids, but I felt this was a hook for a sub-plot that never came to anything concrete. Kad Merad and Jean-Paul Bonnaire also proved to be good additions to the cast.

Technically, the film is a gem of quality at a low price. Without the spectacularity and resources of the American film industry, this film offers us exquisite cinematography, with excellent colors and good camera work, an intelligent use of light and shadow, and magnificent and well-chosen sets. But it is in the soundtrack and in the use of children's voices that the film really acquires magic, especially for classical music lovers, as is my case. A note of praise also for the use of period props and costumes, which help the film to fit in well with the period portrayed.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

mapizarro

Oct 15, 2013

Christophe Barratier brings us a great masterpiece from French cinema. When I watched this film I was 14 years old and "Les choristes" was my first independent film. Later, I became a good cinephile. "Les choristes", like "La vita bella", is a kind movie that it give spectator a dose of joyChristophe Barratier brings us a great masterpiece from French cinema. When I watched this film I was 14 years old and "Les choristes" was my first independent film. Later, I became a good cinephile. "Les choristes", like "La vita bella", is a kind movie that it give spectator a dose of joy and optimism. The score is a song to sensitive, a great score by Bruno Coulais. I don't understand why this film has such a low note by experts.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

EstebanF.

Jun 30, 2006

The Chorus is an awesome movie with nice acting, a great storyline and an awesome soundtrack. Even if the plot is a bit cliché (a very good man makes the lives of delinquent boys better with art), it is still awesome and beautiful. The movie takes places in the '40s, a hard time The Chorus is an awesome movie with nice acting, a great storyline and an awesome soundtrack. Even if the plot is a bit cliché (a very good man makes the lives of delinquent boys better with art), it is still awesome and beautiful. The movie takes places in the '40s, a hard time for the world, and it's greatly recreated, everything, from the clothes to the buildings. The soundtrack is wonderful, and the best part is that you hear the songs all the time because it's an essential part of the plot. I don't understand the low ratings by the critics. I give it a 9/10 and I recommend this movie to everyone that has a heart, even a small one.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful

nilsy

Sep 17, 2018

Id compare the feeling it evokes somewhat similar to forest gump, it has that feel-good wibe to it. Just like forest gump it has characters that are bit depressed and grumpy or sad,but instead of the gump this movie replaces him with music... sounds odd but but it makes the movie work.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

ChadShiira

Oct 24, 2006

"The Chorus" is for pseudo-sophisticates, who share the wrongheaded notion that a picture like this French import is the antidote to mainstream domestic-studio fare; when in fact, they're actually watching a film that's equally unchallenging, equally banal. Faced with a true "The Chorus" is for pseudo-sophisticates, who share the wrongheaded notion that a picture like this French import is the antidote to mainstream domestic-studio fare; when in fact, they're actually watching a film that's equally unchallenging, equally banal. Faced with a true rebuke to contemporary Hollywood filmmaking such as Michael Haneke's "Cache"(the film that should've been France's entry in the 2005 Academy Awards), or Catherine Breillaut's uncompromising experiments in freeing explicit sex from the domain of porn-dom (that would be her entire oeuvre); they fidget, they sigh, they eventually leave their seats, unaware of their own dilettantism. "The Chorus" is about as challenging as a croissandwich from Jack (Jacques)-in-the-Box. The "Lord of the Flies"-like situation that greets Clement Mathieu (Gerard Jugnot) when he first steps into his classroom is too easily dispelled in too short a period of time. These troubled youths are transformed into choirboys with only the most rudimentary hitches along the way. It would've made for better drama if Clement Mathieu had rehabilitated the pyromaniac with song, instead of Morhange(Jean-Baptiste Maunier), who looks way too good-looking to be of any interest to us. With all that fresh meat running around, Fond de L'Etang is made conspicuous by being an orphanage lacking in any religious training. As a villian, Rachin(Francois Berleand), the belligerent school principal, is no match for a randy priest. Ultimately, "The Chorus" is hopelessly irrelevant. We need another "Magdalene Sisters", not "Mr. Holland's Opus".… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful

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