TORONTO – Considering how prolific he’s been in the theater over the past four decades, director Nicholas Hytner has comparatively just dipped his toes in cinema. It’s hard to get movies off the ground, but his latest effort, “The Choral,” is just his seventh film in 30 years and his first since 2015. Despite a stellar cast, we’re not so sure it was worth the wait or that he was the best choice to direct it.
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An original screenplay by noted author, playwright, and longtime Hytner collaborator Alan Bennett, “The Choral” begins in the fictional town of Ramsden, Yorkshire, England. It’s 1916, and this small enclave is slowly coming to terms with the Great War across the channel in Europe. Not yet 18, Lofty (Oliver Briscombe) is a postal carrier who has to deliver notifications from the King to wives and mothers that their husbands and sons who enlisted won’t return. He’s handed out so many he’s almost numb to the responsibility, while his good buddy Ellis (Taylor Uttley, scene stealer extraordinare), is so randy he wonders if any of these widowers would consider shacking up with him. The duo soon runs into village elders Mr. Trickett (Alun Armstrong) and Mr. Fyton (Mark Addy), who are on the hunt to replenish the ranks of the local Choral Society for their next concert. And these two youngsters are not their only potential recruits.
In a narrative that spreads itself considerably thin, “The Choral” is peppered with a slew of characters, including Mary (Amara Okereke), a Salvation Army nurse with the voice of an angel, Bella (Emily Farrin), a kind soul whose boyfriend is missing in action, Mrs. Bishop (Lyndsey Marshal), the town’s resident woman of the night, Mitch (Shaun Thomas), a pal of Ellis and Lofty’s who might fancy Mary, and Bernard (Robert Allam), the Alderman and local mill owner who says everyone is equal in the Choir, until they are not. And that’s just a sampling of he large ensemble Bennett and Hytner have at their disposal (there’s even an epileptic baker for good measure).
With many adult men having already volunteered for duty, the Choral Society finds itself forced to ask the controversial Dr. Henry Guthrie (Ralph Fiennes) to take over as choral master. Despite a brilliant resume, Guthrie’s reputation has been tarnished by his years working in Germany immediately before the war, the fact that he is a known atheist, and, more importantly, decidedly “not a family man.” He’s assisted on the piano by Robert Horner (Robert Emms, a legit piano player), also not a family man (aka homosexual), who may pine for a closer relationship with his brilliant mentor.
After Guthrie gets the permission of Sir Edward Elgar (Simon Russell Beale in a quick cameo) to use his masterwork “The Dream of Gerontius” for their upcoming recital, he sets about trying to fashion this more talented than they appear group of singers into an acceptable ensemble. Unexpectedly, Hytner and Bennett spend considerably less time on Guthrie tasking and coaching his singers than you might think. Instead, a majority of the film explores the numerous narrative threads that seem more intent on chronicling the romantic and sexual priorities of young men going off to war (to say a few don’t want to be virgins before facing machine gun fire is an understatement) and the women who consider their propositions. And while the Choral’s performance of Elgar’s work is very well done, it’s not the emotional climactic moment you might have expected. Hytner has made an intriguing choice in this respect and, sadly, also delivered something of a mild letdown.
Hytner has rarely descended into sentimental filmmaking, so, unsurprisingly, his direction of this material is overall quite restrained. There is a through line where the emotions this community is experiencing could be depicted more openly without diving into clichés, but Hytner almost always pulls away from those opportunities. Specifically, there is a moment when Addy’s character, a professional portrait photographer, is capturing three young men in their clean new uniforms before they head off to battle. Addy is such a good actor that you can see his eyes welling up as the boys smile full of optimism that they’ll be home by Christmas. Fynton knows his friends and fellow singers may never return. And you want Hytner to hold on to this beat for a moment or two more. Let the audience feel Fynton’s emotion. But, no. He cuts away before the reality of the situation can hit you. And you begin to wonder why.
Bennet’s screenplay has so much on its agenda that Guthrie’s concern over his lover in the German Navy, Horner’s insistence on risking prison as a conscientious objector, and numerous other threads don’t truly amount to anything. Fiennes and Emms are great actors, but even their talents can’t turn their characters’ friendship into more than a whisper of dramatic conflict. Too much of it falls flat.
It’s a marvel that Bennett crafted this screenplay almost at the age of 90. And his dialogue is often sharp and witty. The scenario is ripe for a captivating and moving drama. And yet, perhaps this was one project that needed a different director at the helm for the material to truly resonate. [C]
“The Choral” opens in limited release on November 7.
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