The Chorus

Nominated for two Oscars, director Christophe Barratier seems to have struck a winning chord with his debut feature.

So what's the score then?

In 1949, Clément Mathieu (Gerard Jugnot) arrives at a rural boy's boarding school to take up his new teaching position. Very soon it becomes clear that these troubled children are a mutinous handful, ruled by a strict regime of discipline and punishment. "Action! Reaction!" is most stringently professed by the tyrannical head, Rachin (Francois Berleand), which is as far removed from Mathieu's amiable and approachable disposition as possible.

With a firm and unpatronising manner, he begins to build bridges towards the children's oppressed and lonely lives. One such opportunity leads him to marshal the boys into a choir, which, beyond hopeless at first, he painstakingly shapes into a beautiful singing choral ensemble. It's not long before the music magic begins to brighten the whole school. Also, inevitably every kid finds a new sense of identity, purpose and confidence that in some small way changes their lives for the better. In particular, Mathieu reaches the insular protege Pierre Morhange (Jean-Baptiste Maunier).

With music his passion and having failed as a composer, Mathieu's own artistic dreams are reinvigorated. He, too, finds meaning and purpose in the personal success he has in changing the boys' lives, despite the efforts of the bitter Rachin.

Barratier based his script on Jean Dreville's A Cage Of Nightingales (1945), but audiences may feel at first that it's a prison drama with children, such are the cliches that run down the hallways. A bleak environment, vicious warden, stern guards, dehumanising treatment and one sympathetic individual to question and fight the system are all on the roll call. Little changes over the course of the film, as success and failure arises over a familiar story arc.

This is not necessarily a bad thing and it's certainly been done worse. For a film that's honestly committed to being heart-warming and uplifting, it just about gets there. There are a couple of genuinely moving moments, even though the timing may be predictable. Judicious sprinkling du sucre is both the key to its charm and its lack of ultimate bite.

Decent performances from the cast, young and old, keep the affair likeable. The polarised Berleand and eminently engaging Jugnot, in particular, reveal depths to their characters that are convincing and poignant. The young soloist Maunier is a singular talent and for an untrained actor invests Morhange's (armchair psychology) problems with sincerity.

Before turning filmmaker, Barratier was a classical guitarist and his musical sensibilities play well on the screen. Not only did he write several of the pieces that Mathieu composes (scooping the second Oscar nomination for Best Original Song), but also holds closely to one of his central themes, that only music can inspire emotions.

Staging the story shortly after the Second World War was deliberate. It avoids having to explain the children's issues in a modern context, while telling the story in flashback introduces other themes to the score sheet. The treatment of youth resonates across a generation with nostalgic French flair back to the classroom, while the running notion of acknowledging dreams and having them recognised sweeps back to the adults, book ending the film deftly.

When the final note has ended, The Chorus is a satisfying piece of mainstream entertainment that makes no bones about trying to keep you warm and wondering. Don't look for too much, or you'll be disappointed. Instead, expect great things from Barratier in the future.