Archive of films Chorists / Les choristes

France / Switzerland
2003, 95 min

Section: Official Selection - Competition
Year: 2004

Pierre Morhange discovered music and meaning in life thanks to his boarding school music teacher. He was one of the most problematic students, and thumbed his nose at the school’s harsh discipline. But because of his lovely voice he found himself at the centre of the teacher’s struggle to save the souls of lost boys and initiate them into a world of beauty.

Synopsis

The famous conductor Pierre Morhange returns to France for his mother’s funeral. He meets a fellow student from long ago, Pépinot, who tells him that their music teacher has just died as well. The teacher’s diary returns Pierre to the old days: 1949 the talented Clément Mathieu accepted a place at a boys’ boarding school, whose residents are wild, problematic boys, some of them orphans, decidedly not students willing to explore the fragile mystery of music under his leadership. The tyrannical headmaster Racin believes that only strictness will work on the pupils. However, Clément decides he will rely on methods nearer his heart. One particular problem is Pierre Morhange, a boy with the nature of a devil but the face of an angel – and a wonderful voice. He stands in the very centre of the teacher’s fight for the souls of the “lost” boys and the beauty of the world. Clément begins, by means of the magic world of music, to change the lives of his wards once and for all.  

About the director

Christophe Barratier drew on his own classical music education, gained at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris, for his debut as a director. In 1991 producer Jacques Perrin convinced him to make movies for his production company Galatée Films, to devote himself to film. He made his first short film Les tombales (2001), inspired by a text by Guy de Maupassant, with Lambert Wilson and Carole Weiss in the leading roles. It was selected for the festival in Clermont-Ferrand. Barratier’s feature film debut, Chorists, also originates as a Galatée Films production. In the course of writing and making the film the author was freely inspired by the classic French film A Cage of Nightingales (La cage aux rossignols, 1945, dir. by Jean Dréville); which links the two universal themes that have always interested him: childhood and music.

Contacts

Bontonfilm, a.s.
Na Poříčí 1047/26, 110 00, Praha 1
Czech Republic
Tel: +420 257 415 111
Fax: +420 257 415 113
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.bontonfilm.cz

Pathé International FR
2, rue Lamennais, 75008, Paris
France
Tel: +33 1 717 232 30
Fax: +33 1 717 232 60
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.patheinternational.com

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About the film

Color, 35 mm
International premiere

Section:	Official Selection - Competition

Director:	Christophe Barratier
Screenplay:	Christophe Barratier
Dir. of Photography:	Carlo Varini, Dominique Gentil
Music:	Bruno Coulais
Editor:	Yves Deschamps
Producer:	Jacques Perrin, Arthur Cohn, Nicolas Mauvernay
Production:	Galatée Films, koprodukce / coproduction: Pathé Renn Production, Vega Film, France 2 Cinéma, Novo Arturo Films
Cast:	Gérard Jugnot, François Berléand, Kaddour Merad, Jacques Perrin, Jean-Baptiste Maunier
Contact:	Bontonfilm, a.s., Pathé International FR

www:	www.leschoristes-lefilm.com