Review of The Chorus (2004) by Chadshiira — 23 Oct 2006

"The Chorus" is for pseudo-sophisticates, who share the wrongheaded notion that a picture like this French import is the antidote to mainstream domestic-studio fare; when in fact, they're actually watching a film that's equally unchallenging, equally banal.

Faced with a true rebuke to contemporary Hollywood filmmaking such as Michael Haneke's "Cache"(the film that should've been France's entry in the 2005 Academy Awards), or Catherine Breillaut's uncompromising experiments in freeing explicit sex from the domain of porn-dom (that would be her entire oeuvre); they fidget, they sigh, they eventually leave their seats, unaware of their own dilettantism.

"The Chorus" is about as challenging as a croissandwich from Jack (Jacques)-in-the-Box. The "Lord of the Flies"-like situation that greets Clement Mathieu (Gerard Jugnot) when he first steps into his classroom is too easily dispelled in too short a period of time.

These troubled youths are transformed into choirboys with only the most rudimentary hitches along the way. It would've made for better drama if Clement Mathieu had rehabilitated the pyromaniac with song, instead of Morhange(Jean-Baptiste Maunier), who looks way too good-looking to be of any interest to us.

With all that fresh meat running around, Fond de L'Etang is made conspicuous by being an orphanage lacking in any religious training. As a villian, Rachin(Francois Berleand), the belligerent school principal, is no match for a randy priest.

Ultimately, "The Chorus" is hopelessly irrelevant. We need another "Magdalene Sisters", not "Mr. Holland's Opus".