Les Choristes is a wonderful, heartwarming, uplifting story that would have been much better if I had not already seen Dead Poets Society, Mr. Holland’s Opus, The Emperor’s Club, and The School Rock. It’s a story about a humble school teacher who works hard to help his students grow, but due to opposition from authorities, begins to feel like a failure until he’s eventually informed otherwise by his students. It’s a great story, but it’s one that we’ve seen many times before.

Though the film’s somber tone most closely reflects Dead Poet’s Society, the best comparison is actually to The School of Rock. In a fairly modern France, Clement Matthieu (Gerard Jugnot) has failed to make a career out of composing music, so he takes a job as a schoolteacher at a school for young troublemakers. Matthieu struggles to get control of the boys, but refrains from responding harshly to the boys’ mischief as the principle does. Much like The School Rock’s Dewey Finn, Matthieu begins to befriend the boys and treats them with kindness.

Matthieu soon creates a choir out of his class and discovers there’s actually a lot of talent among the boys. The principle disapproves of the choir, but again like Dewey, Matthieu begins to hold choir practice in secret and the boys get really good.

Though lacking in originality, the film is still genuinely sweet and never afraid to be sentimental. The score matches the film’s tenderness and creates an atmosphere of hope in the midst of the dungeon-like schoolhouse. Les Choristes is ultimately nothing we haven’t seen before, but its chorus is so strong and its finale is so sweet, it’s a song that’s well worth listening to again.

French

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