The Chorus [2004]

Amazon.co.uk Review

By getting nominated for Academy Awards in both the Foreign Language Film and Best Song categories, Les Choristes (The Chorus) made a rare (for a European film) double impression at the 2004 Oscars. This sentimental tale follows the arrival of a new teacher at a remote boys school in 1949 France (the war is a largely unspoken but ghostly presence). With disciplinary problems rampant, and the policies of the old-fashioned headmaster not helping, Monsieur Mathieu decides to introduce choral singing as a way to bridge the gap with his students. You don't need a crystal ball to figure out where this will go, although the movie uses its atmospheric location and lush vocal arrangements well. Bald, dumpy Gerard Jugnot provides a refreshingly offbeat hero: he's sort of a younger Philippe Noiret. Director Christophe Barratier works in the winsome-cute mode that makes a certain kind of French movie into an overly sweet bon bon, although at least this bon bon sings. --Robert Horton, Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

A gem.......2008-01-17

I had heard of this film before, but it was the request of my 12 year old daughter, who had seen the beginning of it in her French class, that prompted me to sit down with her to watch it. The Chorus is indeed a delight, a sweet if somewhat predictable story, beautifully and sensitively portrayed with sufficient humour to prevent it from becoming saccharine and an excellent cast. A gem worth seeing whether one is studying French or not.

amazing!.......2007-12-26

i loved it! i watched it in france with a friend of mine and its deffinitely one of my favourites. The music is really beautiful and i really want to get the CD!!

Lovely film, shame about the fixed subtitles.......2007-12-11

The quality of the print on this DVD is wonderful, the film is a gem and it's packaged with a really good "Making Of" documentary (that is really called "Le Making Of" in French), but, like most of the other releases by Pathe Distribution, you can't turn off the English subtitles. If you want to do this, you'll need to head over to amazon.fr.
It would be nice if the standard Amazon listing information told you this before you spend your money...

Simply fantastic!.......2007-07-26

This film was mentioned to me in passing by a friend, it is quite simply put fantastic. Beautiful in how it was shot, its script and the soundtrack. I have over the last couple of years put to one side the American made/studio blockbusters and this film underlines for me why Hollywood has quite simply lost it. Hollywood fails completely to be original and creative, choosing to remake and reproduce that which is already classic relying upon special effects to excite.

Here is a film which quite simply needs no effects but is deep in simplicity and beauty. Watch and enjoy!

Beautiful.......2007-05-27

This is a wonderful film. Its moving, slightly sad, and heart-warming. I watched it first at school with my GCSE standards French, in French, with French subtitles. Although I didn't understand all the details, I still enjoyed it immensely, and however you watch it, it is amazing. I had the song "Les Choristes" in my head for days.
The film begins in the future, and then is mostly a flashback. A new teacher arrives at Fond D'Etang, a school for difficult boys, to teach music, and immediately discovers the harsh discipline and the bad behaviour which forced the man he is replacing to retire. His unusual methods soon warm the boys to him, and he achieves a lot. There is some wonderful music, especially the soloist, Pierre. Pepinot, a very young boy, is adorable, and he partly gives the film its touching ending.
Whatever standard your French is, even if you watch it in English; whether you like this sort of music or not, you cannot fail to love this film. It's hard for me to put my finger on what exactly makes it appeal so much to me, but the characters are probably its best feature. They are well developed, lovable (or hatable, in the headmaster's case) and they make the film stick in your mind. Make sure you give this a try!

Average customer rating:

Exemplary
Outstanding!!!
Outstanding!!!

Troyens - Hector Berlioz, Les [2004]
Starring: Susan Graham , Anna Caterina Antonacci , Gregory Kunde , Ludovic Tézier , and Laurent Naouri
Director: Peter Maniura
Manufacturer: Opus Arte Media Productions
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

DVD | Format (binding_browse-bin) | Refinements | DVD | Video

Box Set | Format (binding_browse-bin) | Refinements | DVD | Video

ASIN: B0002TTTHO
Release Date: 2004-08-30

Customer Reviews:

Exemplary.......2006-10-02

As ever so often with the house of BBC Opus Arte, this is an outstanding product, with superior packaging and domumentation, hair-rising state of the art sonics and video quality, and relevant and interesting material supplementary to the main "feature" (a full-length documentary on the production itself deriving from a BBC TV programme, with interviews with the main singers, the conductor and the producer and a sound -i.e., read- detailed synopsis of the opera's plot with visual references to the performance itself). "The Trojans" is nor precisely a repertory work so these extra items do mean an important advantage.

In fact, there's practically nothing at fault here, although not all reviews in this site are favourable. I suppose US viewers will find it unnecessary that the greek invaders in Act 2 wear US Military uniforms and wield mock M16 rifles aimed at the trojan women, a precision at odds with the general timelessness attempted with the clothing, a stylised mixture of styles from several centuries (20th century raincoats, suggested antique breastplates made of some synthetic fibre, antiquity gowns, and the like). The same US guns are used by Aeneas's followers when they are summoned to help Dido's own forces repeal invaders of her realm, further on; an uncalled-for theatrical reference to the US as a world provider of violence instruments?

The production is indeed sumptuous, with outstanding renditions from both US-born protagonists (Graham and Kunde) and especially la Antonacci, who besides her considerable sung performance commands an immense stage presence; in the end, perhaps and in spite of Graham's exquisitely sung Dido, la Antonacci's is the performance that tends to linger in your memory, such is her strength of presence and character (others in the website have commented on her matching physical attractiveness). The exhilarating sounds produced by the original instruments used by the orchestra, especially the winds and brass (some of them traced by Gardiner to private collections as they have long fallen out of use, in France as well as elsewhere), are a delight to hear; this aspect itself sets this set in a class of its own.

The work is rather extravangantly spread over three discs, with the BBC documentary taking half of the third one and sharing it with the last act. But no complaints here either, as the price of the set is within bounds and more than justifies the outlay in view of what you receive.

So, in sum, a gem of a release that will put the way other companies present opera on dvd to shame, and a singular rendition of a key XIX Century opera seldom encountered in theatres today (and altogeher unjustly) in view of its demands.

Outstanding!!!.......2004-10-14

This new production of Les Troyens at the Chatelet had been one of the major events in the celebrations for the 200th birthday of one of France's greatest composers, Hector Berlioz. Les Troyens is one of the greatest masterpieces of 19th century opera, one that stands alongside with Verdi's 'Otello' and Wagner's 'Tristan and Isolde'.

Director/designer Yannis Kokkos created wonderful classical sets, brown - gray for the first two acts, white - blue for the second part of the opera and directed a very effective and moving show.

John Eliot Gardiner conducted his Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique magnificently. Various period brass instruments are used on stage according to Berlioz instructions. The Monteverdi Choir combined with the Chatelet Choir make a wonderful and precise sound. The linkage of the music of Berlioz with Gluck is presented here more than in any other performance of this masterpiece I have heard in the past.

Major roles have been given to lighter-voiced singers than one usually associates with this score, but Gardiner assembled a great cast of wonderful singers - actors. Anna Caterina Antonacci is a magnificent Cassandra: a beautiful woman, a fascinating actress. She has a real sense of the text and sings with great beauty. Susan Graham sings a great performance of Dido with big violence and involvement for the tragic last scene of the opera.

Tenor Gregory Kunde sings a lot of bel canto roles, while the heroic Aeneas needs voices like Vickers, Heppner etc. but Kunde as Aeneas is a great surprise. Ludovic Tezier as Chorebe is one of the best baritones singing in French. Mark Padmore sings Iopas aria 'Blonde Ceres' beautifully, and Laurent Naouri is an impressive Narbal. So is the young Mezzo from Croatia Renata Pokupic. Tenor Topi Lehtipuu sings the young sailor Hylas's Act V aria 'Valon sonore' beautifully.

Great opera. Magnificent performance!
Highly recommended. Should be in every opera fan collection.

Outstanding!!!.......2004-09-22

Director/designer Yannis Kokkos created wonderful classical sets, brown - gray for the first two acts, white - blue for the second part of the opera and directed a very effective and moving show.

Customer Reviews:

A Zeffirelli 'Butterfly' at the Verona Arena.......2006-06-04

A reviewer on the Amazon US site dismissed this production because of Zeffirelli's conception. I must respectfully disagree with him. Zeffirelli is a known quantity -- he tends to mount productions that are traditional but just a bit over the top. Considering that this is Italian opera, I don't see anything wrong with that. (I still love his Met 'Bohème' no matter what others say.) As for the sets, which of course were designed by Zeffirelli, they are not really over the top, although they are lush and absolutely gorgeous to look at.

What makes a 'Butterfly' for me (aside from musical considerations, about which more below) the most important thing is that I believe the action. And in this production I do. Granted neither Cedolins as Butterfly or Giordani as Pinkerton is a youngster. But each of them is a good enough actor to make us believe them. Cedolins is the show, of course, as anyone portraying Butterfly must be. She is a very believable actress and I will admit that I forgot that she was a 40ish Italian soprano; she made me enter into the world of a young and credulous Japanese child-bride. Her Act II and III are heart-breaking. Pinkerton's remorse in Act III is believable (even if he is still an 'ugly American.') Outstanding is the venerable Juan Pons as Sharpless.

Musically, this 'Butterfly' is at or near the top rank. The Israeli conductor Daniel Oren leads an exciting performance. His orchestra is outstanding, the pacing is precise and apt, and Oren is emotionally and musically in sync with his singers. Cedolins is not necessarily an ideal Butterfly musically in that she cannot quite convey the ineffable tenderness and rapture required of this quintessentially lyrico-spinto role and her 'Un bel dì' is slightly disappointing on that score. Butterfly, of course, is a horribly difficult role because, like Violetta, it almost requires two different voice types in one singer. As for Giordani's Pinkerton, it is quite impressive. Giordani is strangely little-known but he really does have a marvelous Italianate tenor and this part fits him like a glove. Granted, it is strange to see little blond Trouble as the child of two Italian brunet(te)s -- Cedolins and Giordani -- but verisimilitude be damned: the child is winsome and a good little actor, too. (It was strange to read the English subtitle that has him named 'Pain' rather than the more traditional 'Trouble', but no matter.) Juan Pons is both sympathetic and musically magnificent as Sharpless. Francesca Franci's Suzuki is good but not outstanding. The rest of the secondary characters are more than acceptable. (I did wonder why Goro was wearing a kimono made out of what looks for all the world like Burberry plaid!)

As far as the stage action, costumes and set I have absolutely no complaints. Indeed, I was more than a little impressed by them. Seeing this after seeing Robert Wilson's kabuki-inspired 'Butterfly' was like coming home after a trip to a strange (read: weird) land.

TT:142 mins; Subtitles: English, German, French, Italian, Spanish; Sound: (excellent!) Dolby 5.1, DTS 5.1, LPCM Stereo.

Scott Morrison

Average customer rating:

Teseo - Handel [2004]
Starring: Jacek Laszczkowski , Sharon Rostorf-Zamir , Martin Wolfel , Lautten Compagney , and Martin-Luther University Chorus
Director: Axel Kohler
Manufacturer: Arthaus Musik
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

DVD | Format (binding_browse-bin) | Refinements | DVD | Video

Average customer rating:

A Puzzling and Ultimately Infuriating Production

Pelleas Et Melisande - Debussy [2004]
Starring: Rodney Gilfry , Isabel Rey , Michael Volle , Laszlo Polgar , and Cornelia Kallisch
Director: Sven-Eric Bechtolf
Manufacturer: Tdk UK Ltd
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

All World Cinema | World Cinema | Categories | DVD | Video

DVD | Format (binding_browse-bin) | Refinements | DVD | Video

Box Set | Format (binding_browse-bin) | Refinements | DVD | Video

Customer Reviews:

A Puzzling and Ultimately Infuriating Production.......2006-05-20

Leaving aside the fact that the musical aspects of this Zurich Opera production of Pelleas et Melisande are more than acceptable, the stage action and setting are so off-putting as to make this an untenable proposition.

First a word about the music: Franz Welser-Most leads a knowing performance, getting lovely subtlety from both orchestra and singers. Pelleas is the marvelous Rodney Gilfry, Melisande the equally effective Isabel Rey. Laszlo Polgar is a particularly good Arkel, Michael Volle only slightly less good as Golaud. Cornelia Kallisch is fine as Genevieve.

But the mise en scene is, uh, stupid, if you'll pardon my saying so. First, there are three-quarter-sized manikins that are doubles of the major characters, and the main characters, when addressing each other, most often address the manikins rather than the singer of the part. I suppose this is intended to convey some sort of psychological isolation, but frankly it comes across as pretentious and unconvincing. The characters often carry their manikin, or drag it around. From time to time the characters are in wheelchairs, or their manikins are; again, presumably this indicates the characters are all handicapped or flawed in some way. Couldn't we just let Maeterlinck's words tell us that? The setting seems to be a land of eternal snow -- psychological coldness, get it? -- and unvarying shades of white, gray, ugly green. Why?

This is an example of Regietheater gone mad. When there are other DVDs of Pelleas out there, and with equally good singers and orchestras, and in traditional or at least less bizarre productions, I'd strongly suggest you pass this one by.

Average customer rating:

Italian | World Cinema | Categories | DVD | Video

DVD | Format (binding_browse-bin) | Refinements | DVD | Video
ASIN: B000A16I3C
Release Date: 2005-08-01

UK DVD:

UK DVD List

UK DVD