Les Choristes - (France, 2004)


Figure 1.-- "Les Choiristes" is set in France during 1949. It is about the children in a French reformatory that are redeemed by music. They do not look like, hoewever, very hardened delinquents..

The French Film "Les Choristes" is a lovingly done remake of an acclaimed French film. The original title was "La cage aux Rossignols". It ran in Britain and the United States as "The Chorus"/"The Chour". The film is set in France during 1949. Clément Mathieu, a unremployed music teacher, is hired by Monsieur Rachin, the very strict principal of a correctional boarding school ( reformatory ) for boys. By introducing his pupils to music he changes their lives. The film features a choir from Lyons, les Petis Chanteurs de Saint-Marc. The reviews I have seen have been quite positive. A Dutch reader reports, "I was in Chartres (France) during the weekend and heard people speak well of ´Les Choristes´ by Christophe Barratier. The music in the film is stunning. The film is a competently told story of an inspirational teacher. There are several similar films. What makes this film rise above the other movies in this genre is the music. Viewers will take the haunting music with them and it lingers in the memory in a way that few film music tracts do.

Filmology

The French Film "Les Choristes" has been remade. I thought that would translate as "The Choristers", but a French reader tells us that it means " the boy choir ". The film ran in Britain as "The Chorus" and in America as "The Choir". The producer of the film is Jacques Perrin, who was in "Cinema Paradiso" and who has a small role in the film. It was a real shame the Academy Award had Beonce butcher the nominated song from the film ""Vous sur ton Chemin" (Look To Your Path) instead of having J-B Maunier and Les Petits Chanteurs de Saint-Marc perform it. A French reader tells us, "This is the most succesfull film in France for several years. More 8.8 million people have seen this film in France alone. A lot of people have tears during the performance." A reader writes, "A moving film but without too much depth other than the message that the young tykes can better be handled with understanding than with harsh revenge. The story is set right after World War II, - at least one of the boys is an orphan. But this is touched upon only very lightly, perhaps much more could have been made out of this."

Original Film (1947)

The original title was "La cage aux Rossignols", released in 1947 with Noël-Noël. The French word " rossignol " means nightingale which is also the name given to a trebble boy. It was directed by Jean Dreville and starred Noel-Noel as Clement Mathieu. The choir used in filming that movie was "Les petits chanteurs a la croix de bois" or The little singers with the wooden cross. Unlike the later version, there was no one particular boy who was a star. There are some interesting differences in the scripts. In the first film the boys sing at Mathieu's wedding. In "Les Choristes", Clement Mathieu - though in love with the star singer's mother - is still single at the end of the film.

Setting

The film is set in France after World War II during 1949.

Cast

The film features a choir from Lyons, les Petis Chanteurs de Saint-Marc. The boy cast were non-choir actors, except for the wonderful Jean-Baptiste Maunier who sang for the Les Petits Chanteurs de Saint-Marc and was discovered at an audition. He was 12-13 at the time of filming and sang all of his solos. He does not have many lines but has a marvelously expressive face which serves him well in the film. He still has his treble voice at 14, has become very popular in France and seems to handling his celebrity well. The other boys are all very good in their roles and do sing a few times on screen (the audition scene is one of the best in the film), but Les Petits Chanteurs de Saint-Marc do most of the full choir singing. Gerard Jugnot is also outstanding as the compassionate supervisor who trains the boys to sing. The producer's son Maxence plays the role of Pepinot, the youngest of the boys at the school and a real scene-stealer.

Music

The music in the film is stunning. The film is a competently told story of an inspirational teacher. There are several similar films. What makes this film rise above the other movies in this genre is the music. Viewers will take the haunting music with them and it lingers in the memory in a way that few film music tracts do. The choral pieces were sung byLes Petits Chanteurs de Saint-Marc. They are simply brilliant and Jean-Baptiste Maunier's solos highlight the level of performance that choristers can achieve with competent training. A very huge record number of CD have been sold.

French Choirs

France has a number of wonder boys' choirs. Les Petits Chanteurs de Saint-Marc is just one of them. Interestingly the film did so well in France that it appears to have inspired kids, mostly boys, to reconsider their opinions about being in a choir. In fact choir auditions have increased since the release of the film. A French reader tells us, "With this succes , the children choir are again in fashion here. Now each school must to have his own choir!"

Plot

The story has been described as highlighting "the redemptive power of music". It is also a story of an inspirational teacher who changed the lives of his students. The film is set in the 1940s at an undistinguished rural school. It is a special boarding school for delinquent or orphaned boys, a kind of reformatory. The children have been discarded by their families are have no families. They are ???, even defiant. The teachers are frustrated and have stopped really trying tp reach the children. Clément Mathieu, a unremployed music teacher, is hired by Monsieur Rachin, the very strict, if not brutal principal. By introducing his pupils to music he changes their lives. A wonderful moment in this film occurs when the choir is asked to perform for the regents of the school (despite the principal's objections). Pierre, the boy with the amazing voice (played by Jean-Baptiste Maunier) is allowed to perform a solo part of the song, although not expecting to due to an incident earlier in the film with the director. The expression of joy on his face not only wonderfully conveyed by Maunier, but the observation voice-over by the director (Gerard Jugnot) describing the look of pride, joy at being forgiven, and gratitude on the boys face really highlight the impact a caring, compassionate teacher can have on a child's life.

Reviews

The reviews I have seen have been quite positive. Several HBC readers have also commented on the film. A Dutch reader reports, "I was in Chartres (France) during the weekend and heard people speak well of ´Les Choristes´ by Christophe Barratier." n American reader writes, "The film really highlights the joy children can feel when they make beautiful music with their voices. The boys in the film do a marvelous job of expressing this joy and there are several segments of the film where the audience feels this exhilaration as well. I have seen this film several times. I guess you can say that I really liked the film." Some consider the film melodramatic, but it's the combination of drama, comedy and music that makes this film work. The film seems to come to a depressing climax, but a nice final scene brings the film to a warm and satisfying finish." Another reader writes, "This is a magnificent film, with some outstanding music." Another reader writes, "I saw this movie in Montreal where it is now showing. It's just superb, and the boys' period clothing is very interesting, and, I think, quite accurate. I hadn't realized that the film is a remake. The child actors are superb--they manage to convey a wonderful combination of childlike innocence and deviltry." A French reader writes, "Personnaly I have loved this film full of sensibility. I find that the boys are dressed quite well respecting this sort of boarding school during the late-40s. This film was made during the very hot summer 2003 , and several scenes simulate to be in Winter ...the boys were coved alike for a cold winter weather.

Costuming

The costumes look very authentic. The boys mostly wear shorts of various length (mostly short) and knee socks pushed down with either sandals or boots, with button-up shirts, sweaters and jackets. Most seem to push their socks down which may seem more a reflection of the current styles than those of 1949. A few of the boys wear long pants in the film, but most of the boys wear shorts. What is interesting is the number of boys who wear suspenders with their shorts--sometimes wearing the suspenders on top of sweaters. Also there is a mixture of knee socks and ankle socks. The impression one gets from the film is that the boys don't seem to care which they wear, which was a more prevalent attitude at the time than is the case today. A reader asks, "I wonder what child actors today think when asked to wear period clothing? Do they enjoy or hate the experience?" HBC is not sure. I suspect that the children were rather excited about the opportunity to be in a film. A reader writes, "There is no resentment on the part of the boys, even the older boys, in being costumed in short pants". A French reader writes, "One must remember that the story was set in a reformatory for troubled kids. So the children were dressed very ordinary, without the juvenile fashion that was popular at the time. These boys didn't have nice Sunday clothes. Notice also that few city boys had this sort of suspender in the 1950s. In this film the boys sound and look authentic for boys in such an institution. In an orphanage or boarding school the costumes would have been different."

Music

Of course what makes this film special if the beautiful singing by the les Petis Chanteurs de Saint-Marc. A HBC reader has provided a sample of the Choir's singing. The piece is "Caresse sur l'océan" which is a MP3 file.

French Choir Films

Some interesting movies have been made in France about boys choirs. The movies have been of uneven quality, but do show some details about the cotumes worn by choirs in France. Unlike neighboring Germany, the sailor suit was not commonly worn for French boy choirs.








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Created: June 11, 2004
Last updated: 4:36 PM 4/14/2006