This film is, at times, a bit predictable. However, considering how wonderful the journey is and how well executed everything is, the occasional predictability is NOT a detriment--in fact, it's nice that the film works out the way you hope.
The film is about a teacher at a residential school for troubled boys in 1949. The kids are angry and the atmosphere of the school oppressive. The new guy doesn't have all the answers, but he is decent and the kids slowly respond to this. In addition, he adores music and decides to channel the kids' energy into a chorus. Unfortunately, throughout his stay at the school, the headmaster does a lot to try to undo the good that is done and he seems to genuinely hate the children. Despite this, the teacher and the kids seem to overcome this atmosphere of tension through their music. The music, by the way, is exquisite. Even if you don't understand French, it is marvelous to hear and greatly adds to the overall feeling of the film. Wonderful and heart-felt throughout--but somehow manages not to be sickeningly sweet or contrived.
Plot summary
Fond de l'Etang is a boarding school for troubled boys located in the French countryside. In the mid-twentieth century, it is run by the principal M. Rachin, an egotistical disciplinarian whose official unofficial mantra for the school is "action - reaction", meaning that there will be severe consequences for any boy out of line. This approach does not seem to be working as the boys as a collective are an unruly bunch. In turn, the teachers don't teach, but are always watching out for the next subversive act from the boys. January 15, 1949 marks the arrival to the school of the new supervisor, M. Clément Mathieu, a middle-aged man who is grasping at finding his place in life after a series of failed endeavors. Although he does find the boys an unruly lot, Mathieu does not believe in the "action - reaction" policy, and as such, butts heads with Rachin while secretly undermining the policy. Slowly, Mathieu's approach of trying to match the discipline to the crime does have a positive effect on a handful of students. With the reluctant approval of Rachin, Mathieu begins a grander experiment of trying to transform the overall atmosphere within the school, core within the experiment being to start a choir among his students. This move is a difficult one for him as a failed musician, as well as for the initially reluctant students. During this process, Mathieu focuses on two different students for two different reasons. Pépinot, a younger boy, seems to lack guidance and focus, and who always says he is waiting for Saturday when his father will pick him up, he who never does. And Pierre Morhange, an older student, is the anachronism: introverted, but prone to outbursts of individual subversiveness - the devil with the face of an angel as the other teachers describe him. Behind the reason for his subversiveness, which Mathieu slowly learns, Morhange hides a love of music and a true talent in it. Beyond overcoming the obvious obstacles of Rachin and the students' skepticism and Rachin's egotism, Mathieu has another challenge in newly arrived Pascal Mondain, a truly troubled older boy with pathological tendencies whose presence alone may wreak havoc throughout the school, and not just with Mathieu's project. Over fifty years later, Morhange and Pépinot, who have not seen each other since that time and who did not spend that much time together while at school, are reading through Mathieu's memoirs from his time at the school, which unmasks the reason why the two are privy to the memoir and the effect he had on their lives.
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an excellent family film
Gerard Jugnot is extraordinary as a failed musician who arrives at a boarding school and transforms the rebel children
This is a marvelous ode to classic music , to childhood plenty of innocence , friendship , cooperation , curiosity and comradeship . Being inspired by the film La Cage Aux Rossignols (1945). It revolves around the widely successful orchestra conductor Pierre Morhange (Jacques Perrin) , who reminisces about his childhood inspirations when he and his former classmate Pépinot (Didier Flamand) read the diary of their old music teacher Clément Mathieu (Gérard Jugnot , thanks to this box-office film he earned the title of the highest-paid French player in 2004, overtaking Jean Reno , Jean Dujardin , Vincent Perez and Gérard Depardieu). Set in 1948, in the post-war season at rural ¨Fond De L'Etang Internat¨ , there arrives a watcher as well as professor of music , Clement Mathieu , as he becomes the supervisor at a boarding school for the rehabilitation for minors . What he discovers disconcerts him , as the current situation is repressive with a stiff-upper-lip Principal (Francois Berland) who ruthlessly punishes some rebel kiddies . This troubled ragbag of lop-sided children is unwittingly awaiting an empathetic patron who believes in transformation through the conductor's baton rather than the cane executed by the headmaster . As Clement becomes into an enlightened Samaritan pedagogue with hopes for their hearts . While , a young Morhange is the badly behaved son of single mother Violette (Marie Bunel) and Clement brightens up the school and assembles a choir , leading to the discovery of Morhange's musical and physical talents and a transformation in the children . Through the power of song , Clement tries to turn the students . And Clement's ditzy fancy for one boy's mother stretches the plot .
French cinema has a great ability in dealing with films about childhood , with interesting and thought-provoking messages that are a clear example of an allegory of notorious values , such as friendship , honor , philanthropy , collaboration and mistreating denounce . This is an splendid ode to childhood , a nostalgic trip to the past in which we become children along half and hour , where everything was discovered , in which the songs and chorus were serious things . Sincere in its sentimentality , it is cutely optimist that believes in the redemption as metaphor of the golden heart . It's a kid's movie but its strength lies in its universal character , not a story just for kids , it's for everyone . This entertaining film displays a colorful as well as evocative cinematography as well as a wonderful musical score . Boarding school movies hit a peak with ¨Jean Vigo's Zero De Conduite¨, ¨Lindsay Anderson's If¨ and ¨Truffaut's 400's blows¨ , but this French box office takes its enjoyable inspiration from a different tradition , the motivational piety , goodness and mirth of ¨Goodbye Mr Chips¨ and its wake . Awesome acting by Gerard Jugnot -also co-producer- as a decorous , self-minded chorus conductor , not instantly set for the unabashed hostility his students show him . Support cast is frankly magnificent with the acting more self-contained than the constantly swelling soundtrack , as the following actors shine : Kad Merad , Jacques Perrin , Francois Berland , Didier Flamand , and the child angel face Jean-Baptiste Maunier who was the soloist of Petits Chanteurs de Saint-Marc , and other actual boys choir soloists .
Principal photography by Jean-Jacques Bouhon , Dominique Gentil , Carlo Varini took place on location at the Château De Ravel in Puy-De-Dôme . Using foam and salt as artificial snow and green leaves were removed from the grounds , since the beginning of the movie was filmed in the summer, but set in the Winter . As it was filmed in the middle of summer which was hard for the actors to wear winter clothes . A model of the boarding school featured in the film at a miniature railway museum in Châtillon-sur-Chalaronne and fog machines were also used around the castle . It features a sensitive soundtrack , which was composed by Bruno Coulais and performed by the Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra , conducted by Deyan Pavlov and the choir Les Petits Chanteurs De Saint-Marc , as the producers chose to hire real boys choir soloist . It displays heartwarming , sentimental choral performances in general , the Chorus translates into a strong , albeit repetitive album.
The motion picture was well directed by Christophe Barratier (L'outsider , París, París , War of the buttons) who gives an approach exquisite and original ; in fact , this was the #1 movie at the French box office , with more than 8.6 million admissions . It is a great portrait about unfortunate post-war orphans , appointed to children as well as adults .
Music Changed Their Lives
On 15 January 1949, the former music teacher Clément Mathieu (Gérard Jugnot) arrives in "Fond de l' Etang" ("Bottom of the Well"),a boarding school for orphans and problematic boys, to work as an inspector. The place is administrated with iron fist by the cruel director Rachin (François Berléand),and most of the boys have severe punishments for their faults. Clément decides to teach the boys to sing in a choir in their spare time, and identify the musical potential of the rebel Pierre Morhange (Jean-Baptiste Maunier),the son of a beautiful single mother for whom he feels a crush. He also has a special feeling for the young Pépinot (Maxence Perrin),a boy that expects the visit of his father every Saturday near the gate, but indeed lost his parents in the war. With his methods, Clément changes the lives of the boys, of the other employees and his own.
"Les Choristes" is a very simple, but also sensitive movie. I personally like both of the central themes, teaching and music, and this delightful movie was very special for me. This beautiful feel-good story is disclosed in a perfect pace, with great performances of the cast, and with a wonderful surprising twist practically in the last scene as if it were a fairy-tale. The songs are adorable and I recommend this movie to viewers that like a simple, touching and very real story. My last advice is to keep a handkerchief close to you for the last heartbreaking scene. My vote is eight.
Title (Brazil): "A Voz do Coração" ("The Voice of the Heart")