Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you enjoy boys choirs and heartwarming, sentimental choral performances with resounding orchestral backing. Avoid it... if the idea of simplistic and repetitive choral songs deters you from your willingness to experiment with a uniquely European endeavor. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
The Chorus (Les Choristes): (Bruno Coulais) A smash hit in its native country of France, The Chorus is the country's submission for "Best Foreign Film" for the 2004 Academy Awards. Despite its familiar storyline, The Chorus launched past its competition in French cinema and became the most popular film during the past year in the country. A feel-good story in the genre of "good teacher versus bad students," the drama follows the kind-hearted, washed up composer Clement Mathieu (Gerard Jugnot) who becomes a teacher at a reformatory school in 1949 France. Appropriately named "Le Fond De L'Etang" ("Rock Bottom"), the school has your usual collection of young boys who are brats and thieves, and the institution is run by a militaristic headmaster in a castle-like structure. The new teacher slowly assembles the delinquents boys into a choir, a move that sets him at odds with headmaster, but eventually proves that a little tender loving care and the inspiration of music can turn the boys around. Adapting his material from a little-known French film called The Cage of Nightingales, co-writer/director Christophe Barratier makes his surprising feature debut with The Chorus, and Miramax is releasing the picture in limited American theatres in January 2005. French composer Bruno Coulais, slowly gaining recognition in the United States for his extensive work in Europe, was tasked with writing an underscore integrated with the choral performances in the film itself. Utilizing the Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra and the voices of Les Petits Chanteurs de Saint-Marc Choir, Coulais combines his own material (a cross between the romantic sensibilities of John Barry and Craig Armstrong) with thematic ideas by Barratier (who also has a musical background) to create a score that spent several weeks atop the French music charts. Selling a million copies in France alone, The Chorus has also made a star of 13-year-old lead actor and voice, Jean-Baptiste Maunier, and renewed interest in boys choirs across the nation. Studying Coulais' work for The Chorus from a technical standpoint would reveal a very simplistic score, with easy melodies, a minimum of counterpoint, and significant repetition. But the key element in the equation is the charming heart of the music, and not only has Coulais' simplistic approach won the ears of fans, but it also serves the plotline of the film quite well. The score is comprised of two intermingling parts: the actual choral themes performed by the boys, and the adaptation of those songs into the dramatic underscore. The actual performances by the boys in the film mirror those you hear on the album, and they vary in sonic depth depending upon the level of orchestral backing that Coulais provides them. For instance, a simple voice-only performance of theme is often accompanied by the piano --a common instrument in any school-- but Coulais masterfully adds the strings, woodwinds, and percussion of the orchestra as these pieces progress. The building momentum that these songs end up achieving by their finales is resounding, and you begin to fall in love with the cues during which Coulais allows the boys to perform above the orchestra for several minutes. The "In Memoriam" cue at the outset of the album highlights the title theme with this beautiful and expressive combination. Cues near the latter half of the album, in which the choir performs solo (without any instrumental accompaniment) do begin to wear thin your patience with their repetitive nature. But the second part of the music --the score itself-- often interjects with outstanding results. Almost always pleasant and optimistic in tone, Coulais' underscore often consists of deep bass strings with the choir performing wordless vocal renditions of primary themes. The militaristic, drum-rhythmed "L'Incendie" cue presents a forceful introduction of brass and snare with the boys choir chanting that is not be missed. Tender melodies for piano and woodwind occasionally exists without the boys' presence, perhaps for the teacher's love interest in the film. The highlights of the album are the several Coulais underscore cues that utilize the boy's talents, as well as, of course, the songs that also incorporate the full orchestra. The American album includes two snippets of dialogue (in French, of course) that begin and end abruptly in the final tracks. Overall, for fans of boys choirs and heartwarming, sentimental choral performances, The Chorus is a strong, albeit repetitive album. **** Track Listings (All Albums):
Total Time: 38:38
All artwork and sound clips from The Chorus are Copyright © 2004, 2005, Warner Brothers (Europe), Nonesuch Records. The reviews and notes contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Filmtracks Publications. Audio clips can be heard using RealPlayer but cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 1/15/05, updated 1/16/05. Review Version 4.1 - PHP (Filmtracks Publications). Copyright © 2005, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved. |
2004 French