Tweet

Comments (0)

 1 of 3

Last year's No. 1 film in France was about an immensely talented young teen at a boarding school that resembles an old castle—and where scary and magical things often take place. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban? Nope, that was No. 2 at the French box office. Tops on the list was Les Choristes, a poignant story set in 1949, about a school for troubled boys and where hope is in short supply. But in walks a new teacher, Clement Mathieu, who works his bit of "magic"—by forming a choir and teaching the boys to sing, bringing joy and light to a place of darkness and despair. And the whiz kid? A boy named Morhange who has a bad attitude—and an angelic voice. Which will win out in the end? Will his rebellious spirit take him down a dark path, or will his musical gifts take him to better places?

The man behind the film—which opens in limited release this Friday—is 41-year-old director Christophe Barratier, who grew up in a theatrical family but ultimately ended up as a professional musician, playing classical guitar. He ended up disillusioned with music, and turned to film—and in Les Choristes, he brings both passions together.

Barratier says he was inspired by a little-known 1945 French film, The Cage of the Nightingales, about a young teacher who starts a choral group in a home for delinquent boys. Barratier says the "combination of music and childhood" drew him to that film, from which he says "two main things stayed with me: the emotion produced by the children's voices, and the inspiration of a failed musician who tries, in spite of everything, to transform the world around him. All the films I like have this in common: they are all about how one individual can make the world more livable."

Think of it as a French version of Mr. Holland's Opus or To Sir, With Love. Gerard Jugnot, one of France's most popular actors, plays the lead role with sensitive acuity, and Barratier coaxes a fine performance out of the boys, most of them untrained as actors. The result is a beautiful story of grace and redemption.

We recently chatted with Barratier about Les Choristes and his own artistic journey.

Jean-Baptiste Maunier, the boy who plays Morhange, what a heavenly voice.

Christophe Barratier: Yes, he's a really good singer. For Morhange, I wanted absolutely wanted a real singer, so I made a specific search in France in all the boys' choirs searching for such a kid. I was very discouraged because I met a lot of singers at auditions. There was always something bad—they were not very good actors, they weren't handsome, they didn't have a great voice, etcetera. But with Jean-Baptiste, I really discovered something incredible, because he's a marvelous voice and he can act very well. So I was very lucky to find him.

And that really is his voice we're hearing in the film?

Barratier: Of course. It's not a special effect; it's him.

Why do you think this film was such a big success in France?

Barratier: Many reasons. At the beginning, maybe the first million people say, "Oh, it's because of Gerard Jugnot [in the lead role], because he's very famous in France." After two million people, maybe people say, "It's not only that; it's maybe because it's the music." After three million, they say, "Oh, it's not just Jugnot or the music." And finally, after of these reasons, maybe it's just one answer: Maybe because it's a good film and a good story.

It is the No. 1 film of the year in France, even ahead of Harry Potter. Why? One thing is sure: People are really touched in their deep intimacy by the story, because they felt very much like they remember when they were children. When people left the theater after viewing Les Choristes, they wanted absolutely to come back with somebody else. So it's really something that touched them very deeply. It's not just entertainment. It's more than that.

Why did you set the story in the 1940s instead of the present?

Barratier: I didn't want to focus on the current affairs of France, because the problems we have in Paris are not the same as you have in Chicago or Los Angeles. I wanted absolutely to focus on universal childhood feelings—the feeling of injustice, the feeling to be afraid to be abandoned, to be afraid of the headmaster, all those things we feel very much when we are kids. And above all things I've felt myself, because when I was a kid, my parents divorced, and so I was raised in a boarding school near my grandmother's village. I was very shy, very sensitive and very lonely. I think that if I had shot a movie from 2004 in Paris, we would have to talk about current events, and I didn't want to do that. I just wanted truly to focus on universal childhood problems, not current affairs.

next page... |  1 of 3 | last page

Related Elsewhere:

Les Choristes (The Chorus)	Printer view