A Real Choir MASTER

Rating: Null/10 (14 April 2004)

To the best of my knowledge Gerard Jugnot is completely unknown in England despite having acted in some 76 films, written 14 and directed 9. He was part of a group named Splendid who began in the cafe-theatres of Paris in the eighties and a fair percentage - Thierry Thermitte, Josiane Blasko are two names that will be familiar to both English and American audiences - have gone on to carve out successful movie and/or theater careers. Ironically, the second lead in The Choristes, Francois Berleand has appeared in several films that were seen outside France but the irony is that he could get a job tomorrow as a Richard Dreyfus look-alike and it was, of course, Dreyfus who starred in Mr.Holland's Opus, the film to which the Choristes is destined to be compared if not measured against. Currently this entry is making a lot of noise at the French Box Office and deservedly so if anybody asks you. Jugnot strikes just the right note (not really sorry about that) as the new teacher on the block in a school for hard cases but unlike Richard Dadier (or, Glenn Ford, whichever is the greater) his attempts to reach the kids via music is NOT abortive. For those who can't resist footnotes to other movies this one also has a touch of the Cinema Paradisos inasmuch as it begins with the death of a mentor and a now Internationally successful artist (for movie director read conductor) reminisces about his childhood and the influence upon it of said mentor. In a perfect world this movie WILL be shown in England and/or America and a great many more mavens will know what the cognoscenti have known for years, that Jugnot can make it even without the Paycock. 9/10