The Choral

[Fishfungus]

Anyone else think that this looks like it could be a good film? Definitely showing my age here but looks just up my street 😄 Shame it’s not out until November!

The music was stunning.
Spoilers below:

I agree with Toddlertea, absolutely no way would traumatised soldiers re-enact the trenches, or mimic being shot down.
in 1916 it was obvious the war was not going to be over by Christmas, this was the thought when war first broke out in 1914. By 1916 it was obvious it had become more of a stalemate, the loss of young men was already significant hence conscription.
I can’t imagine a young , one armed injured out of the war ex-service man would have asked his ex-girlfriend to wank him off and a prostitute would not have been welcomed in a choral society.
it was possible to be a conscientious objector, I find it hard to believe an intelligent man wouldn’t have been able to put together a stronger argument (my mothers Godfather was a conscientious objector and was a stretcher bearer. He was injured in 1918 from a gas attack which left him blind).
The music was great, the cast were fabulous, but the story line was lacking, unrealistic and it just felt a bit meh. I thought it could have been really poignant for the ending to have Elgar’s ave Maria playing at the end with a brief acknowledgement of those that fell in the 1914-1918 war.

I didn’t notice this at all. There was so much more to the film you must have missed

BBC Film had something to do with the film, so it might get shown on the Beeb in a year or two.

We saw the trailer and were really looking forward to the film. Unfortunately we were a bit disappointed. In spite of the very intense start the first hour was slow. It felt a little clunky in places and it didn’t feel great from a technical perspective. The dubbing/lip syncing of Roger Allam in particular was terrible.

Some of it was intense and very touching, but some of it was very flat and uncertain. Like @NewJobProblem and @rookiemere we were unimpressed overall. I actually think it might have worked better as a play with actors who could have sung the roles they were cast in.

With the benefit of hindsight I’d have waited for it to come on TV, but had we been watching at home I’m not sure I’d have got through the first hour.

Did the actors not sing their own music, though? I haven’t seen it yet, but I’d assumed that casting both Roger Allam and Simon Russell Beale was because they are both experienced singers. RA was planning to be an opera singer at one point, and was the original London Javert in Les Miserables, and SRB is an ex-chorister who’s often sung on stage and tv.

In the Edinburgh Music Review Roger Allam is quoted as saying that nearly all the music was sung by the actors and a number of singers appear in the credits as provided singing voices for him as well as other members of the cast.

I’m guessing that it was a mixture of dubbed in the parts that were too technical/out of the range of the actors and lip synced in post production for the parts that could be sung by the actors but that couldn’t be recorded as live when being filmed. Unfortunately it wasn’t well done in places, particularly for Roger Allam. I’d have had no idea that Amara Okereke wasn’t doing all her own singing but Roger Allam never looked as though he was really singing.

Simon Russell Beale has a very small part as Elgar and he doesn’t sing (as I recall) but he was savage!

I also think Dr Guthrie would not have been quoting German all over the place. Anti German sentiment was extremely high by 1916 and so bad that the Royal
fam had to change their name in 1917.

I finally caught up with this on Prime, it’s priced at just £1.99. Poignant in places but in general I thought it was underwhelming - slight, unfunny and the sexual content felt jarring. I would never have guessed Alan Bennett wrote this if I didn’t already know.

I also agree with @Hulands that Amara Okereke should never have been cast in this. Her scenes took me out of the story.