“Life’s fucking shit.”
“So, sing.”
It’s 1916, about the middle of what would be called World War I. In the pastoral beauty of Yorkshire, with its gently rolling green hills, the ranks of young men are growing thinner and thinner as they answer the call to fight in continental Europe. The postman, in his rounds, delivers bad news from the front to new widows on a daily basis.
As the local Choral Society of the fictional town of Ramsden (filmed in historic village of Saltaire, near Bradford), begins its auditions, the Choir Master resigns to enlist. How to keep going? Choral Society heads, led by Alderman Duxbury, a tenor and local mill owner (played by Roger Allam) consider who’s available and come up with Dr. Guthrie, played by Ralph Fiennes.
There are problems with Dr. Guthrie. He’s got… peculiarities (read: gay). He spent years living in Germany, now the enemy. But, he’s as good as they’ve got, and they hire him to recruit and lead the choir.
Once he’s been selected and persuaded to take to the podium, there are other problems to consider. St. Matthew’s Passion? It’s by Bach, a German. Ditto Brahms, and Handel, even though he lived in Britain, was also German.
The solution: a crew of teenage singers recruited by Dr. Guthrie, and Edward Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius.
The Choral: Discussion
Director Nicholas Hyter is also a theatre director, and was previously the Artistic Director of London’s National Theatre. The original screenplay is by Alan Bennett.
Hyter is responsible for The Madness of King George (1994), The Crucible (1996), and The Lady in the Van (2015), and in The Choral, he recreates the essence of the era with an eye for detail and authenticity. There is a certain late Edwardian charm to the town, but it’s not a society of all sweetness and light. Adherence to period detail includes casual sexism largely on the part of the young soldiers to be, and the oppression of gays, which runs as a kind of recurring theme.
On the streets, there are soldiers who’ve already returned home less one leg or arm. Their reunions with loved ones don’t always live up to their expectations.
Even though some of the new recruits, who depart on weekly trains, are enthusiastic about their prospects, the shadow of war hangs over the whole town.
What can be done? Sing with the choir.
The motley cast of characters provide the humour as well as the drama. (But, for the love of God, will someone please stop picking on the contraltos?)
The cast is loaded with talent like Simon Russell Beale, an award-winning actor who began his professional life as a choral scholar, and studied at the St. Paul’s Cathedral Choir School, and veterans like Mark Addy and Alun Armstrong.
To break the testosterone heavy story, the character of Mary Lockwood, played by Amara Okereke, is the choir’s most talented singer, and a devoted Salvation Army volunteer. Her musical performance is one of the highlights of the film. Okereke is an experienced performer in musical theatre and is a familiar face in London’s West End theatres, and both her enthusiasm for the Army and her vocal chops were convincing.
Musically, Clyde (played by Jacob Dudman), the returned soldier is an affecting tenor, and the lead of the Choral Society’s revamped Gerontius, which traditionally tells the story of an old man who’s dying.
After some tribulations — which include an appearance by Elgar himself in the story — the oratorio finally takes the stage. The musical glory of Elgar’s score, and its passionate delivery, are the film’s emotional centre.
Should we continue to sing in a time of war, despite the trains that take so many away, never to return? Most definitely, the answer is yes.
Final Thoughts
It may be peripheral to the story arc, but the film offers a slightly different slant on the era than North Americans might have.
It was rather interesting, for example, to hear Fiennes’ Guthrie defend Germany and Germans as, “people who put music, beauty, and art into everything they do”.
Time has a way of reshaping our perceptions.
- The Choral premiered at TIFF 2025 on September 5, and there’s one more screening you can catch on September 12. Find details [HERE].
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