One-note performances, familiar refrain

Rating: Null/10 (24 October 2004)

It seems "The Choir" (Les Choristes) is a sensation in its native France, doing big box-office as a film and selling like hotcakes as a soundtrack. One imagines that France will hasten to enter it in the race for Best Foreign Film at the Oscars this year (2004).
"The Choir" is undeniably a well-made film. But it is not a great film, nor is it even a memorable film. And it certainly doesn't deserve the golden statuette.
"The Choir" is a nice film, a wistful bit of misty-eyed, rose-colored sentimentality. But it is farm from original, creative or imaginative.
It is, instead, a rehash and a mishmash of images and ideas cribbed from other films. The conflict between a kindly new teacher and a crusty old headmaster has been done to death. There have been other, more hard-hitting films about the cruelty of life in reform schools for wayward or abandoned boys. And there have even been other films about a motley crew whipped into shape and ennobled by art, music or theater.
"The Choir" simply follows a recipe, blends all these elements, and serves up a tepid broth that is more comfort food than cuisine.
The screenplay and characterization make few demands on the cast. This is the sort of thing French actors can do in their sleep. (Perhaps they do.)
Even Jacques Perrin's character, Pierre Morhange, is a throwback to an earlier role in his career. In "Cinema Paradiso", Perrin played a middle-aged filmmaker mourning the death of a childhood mentor, and celebrating his legacy -- a collection of film clips spliced together. In "The Choir", Perrin is a middle-aged symphony conductor who learns that a father figure has passed away, leaving him a legacy of memories set down in writing.
Good grief, couldn't the producers of "The Choir" show even a little imagination, and at least cast somebody else as the elder Pierre?