Review: The Choral hits some affecting, if predictable, notes

Director Nicholas Hytner and writer Alan Bennett are both long-time veterans of the theatre. They’ve collaborated several times before on film projects, most notably big screen adaptations of Bennett’s plays like The Madness of King George, The History Boys and The Lady in the Van.

The Choral (Rating: ✭✭✭) is unique in that it comes from an original Bennett screenplay. And yet it concerns something both artists understand intimately: the rewards and challenges of putting on a live performance. A shame it doesn’t amount to much.

It’s 1916, and World War One has taken a huge toll on a small Yorkshire mill town. Most of its men are away at war, leaving huge holes in the community, including the local choral society.

When the group’s choir master leaves for the front, the organizers — led by a prosperous alderman (Roger Allum), who bankrolls the choir and usually takes the key tenor parts — look for a replacement. They decide upon Dr. Henry Guthrie (Ralph Fiennes), who’s got musical credentials but a suspicious past. For one thing, he recently returned from years away in Germany. And as for his personal life, as one of the tsk-tsking search committee knowingly says, “Let’s just say, I prefer a family man.”

The choral society’s original plan was to perform Bach’s massive St. Matthew Passion. But the size of the choir and Bach’s German origins make them change their minds. Guthrie comes up with the idea of performing Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, and even secures the English composer’s permission.

And so begins the rather contrived premise that is meant to hammer home ideas about art transcending class lines, tragedy, etc. The choral society holds auditions, venturing out to shops and pubs to find promising male voices. In the choir itself, the possibility of romance blossoms among some of the singers, even as the fear of conscription hangs over many of the young men.

Meanwhile, war continues to ravage the town. Alderman Duxbury and his wife barely talk since the death of their son; one of the young women in the choir holds off on starting something with a singer because her beau is missing in action. And we also learn that there might be a personal reason why Guthrie pores through the daily newspapers seeking for news about Germany.

In the fall, there was talk about Fiennes’ performance being considered for awards, but it vanished quickly and quietly as people began seeing the film. He’s fine as Guthrie, his posture rigid and controlled, his voice clipped and cold when dispensing critiques of the amateur musicians. He looks completely at home leading the singers.

But there’s not a lot for him to do beyond stiff-upper-lip acting. His performance might as well be a British slogan: Keep Calm and Carry On Conducting. Guthrie has a close relationship with his piano accompanist (Robert Emms), a queer atheist who objects to the war. But the film could use a couple more scenes deepening their friendship.

There’s plenty of fine singing, however, and lovely glimpses of the town’s rural beauty. When the great Simon Russell Beale appears as Elgar, the film looks like it might go some place interesting, but he’s gone almost as soon as he appears.

What we’re left with is a slight, predictable, innocuous film that is studiously inoffensive. Even its most amusing scene, in which a soldier returning from the front lines with one arm entreats his former girlfriend to give him a hand job, is tastefully done. This film desperately needs more friction.

The Choral opens at Toronto’s Cineplex Varsity Cinemas, 55 Bloor West, on January 9 and expands across the country next week. Ticket details here