Pleasure to the heart

Rating: 9/10 (7 November 2015)

Like Sound of Music and other several films that conquer the audiences' affection by depicting a music teacher transforming their naughty anti-social students into compassionate and happy ones, the Chorus uses spectacular techniques to convey the grandeur hidden in education. Clement Matthieu is indeed the paragon of all teachers, the audience will inevitably fall in love with him as the movie proceeds. As an epitome of all extraordinary reformers, he gradually nurture his students' souls instead of directly contradicting Mr. Haxon for his cruel and senseless abuse. He is the main reason I stared at my broken computer screen with sore sockets and dizzy head for 96 minutes.
The film flows with a beautiful spontaneity and pleasant harmony, from the daunting prison gate and a morose little boy staring out of it, to the cruel action-reaction principle, to the terrifying noise and bloody jokes made by the students, the movie successfully created a challenge that make the audience gasp in awe. Then comes the idea of a chorus bringing order to the class and quenching the everlasting riots, with involuting development of Pépinot, Morhange, Mondain and Le Querrec. The highlight came when Mondain was arrested for stealing, Madame Morhange declared her marriage to an engineer, the duchess's condescending appreciation of the chorus, and the fire accident that induced the heated quarrel with headmaster Haxon. The director meticulously places events of similar tension together to pull the audience deeper into the swamp of entangled interactions between the characters. Unlike those cheap commercial films, the Chorus squeezes our attention tighter and tighter in its grip until the moment the screen blackens out. I signed with satisfaction and refreshment of my soul, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
Can't comment on this film without mentioning the music. The director was formally a musician, background music and sound of the choir here is angelic, bleaching my senses with a transcendent pureness and comfort. The film wouldn't be so perfect if the audience aren't paralyzed by the heavenly music. The fluent camera angles and sincerity emitted from dialogues are perfect instrument of this huge symphony. The Chorus definitely deserves being stored in your watch list, and review whenever you feel rejected or exhausted or need of a loving mentor.