Club Benefits
- Rating: 2/5 stars
- Verdict: "The Choral" gets a point for having potential and a point for having Ralph Fiennes. However, this movie tries to strike a delicate balance between star-driven drama and coming-of-age ensemble historical fiction, which sadly, causes it to largely fail on both fronts.
"The Choral" was almost certainly doomed to be merely the second-best Ralph Fiennes performance that you could see in U.S. theaters this January. While portraying a 1916 English choir master feels right up the alley for the British thespian, "28 Years Later: The Bone Temple," was destined to be the more memorable of these two movies, barring an epic flop. Especially, since early reviews for 'The Choral' were largely mixed; though most praised Fiennes' performance, to be fair.
Unfortunately, having seen "The Choral," I can declare that excellent isn't the word I'd use to describe this movie. It's underwhelming and lacks focus. It's not terrible, thanks to Fiennes and a few moments that grab your attention. But for the most part, it's forgettable. I certainly wouldn't spend money to see it at your local cinema. Instead, I'd wait to come to one of the best streaming services, which should be Netflix, given it's a Sony Pictures Classics movie.
Malcolm has been with Tom's Guide since 2022, and thinks that, while Ralph Fiennes greatest performance is in "The Grand Budapest Hotel," his most underrated performance is in "In Bruges."
I wish 'The Choral' had as much focus as it has vision
"The Choral" is a historical drama — a historical fiction, in fact. It's important to note that, despite the World War I setting in 1916, and the use of real people and real compositions, this movie about a choir master (Fiennes) is set in a fictional English town.
It's a good thing it's a fiction, too, because I struggle to believe some things about this portrayal of 1916, Yorkshire, England. I have no struggles believing that the men of this fictional town of Ramsden would largely be fighting in the war in France. But the idea that basically every able-bodied man (and even some of the disabled) who are left would be joining up for the choir had me raising an eyebrow.
There's also Fiennes' character, Dr Guthrie. He's in this story because, while he was an acclaimed choir leader, he just spent years living and working in Germany. He's also an atheist, and it's alluded to that he's a homosexual. This makes him unhirable in World War I-era England despite his talent ... so he's promptly hired to lead the Ramsden choral society?
"The Choral" is not the first movie to do this, but it feels like there's a level of vitriol directed towards Guthrie that should be disqualifying. I get why nobody has been hiring him, but there's so much working against him that it's beggars belief that this choral society, comprised of an entire northern English town opt to hire him during this time period.
To be fair, the town of Ramsden isn't happy that he was hired. They're also not happy that the choir is performing a piece by the German composer, Bach. But once they choose to perform Edward Elgar's "The Dream of Gerontius," suddenly, all is forgiven, or at least forgotten.
It's a moment where "The Choral" fails to fully lean into its deeper emotional meanings and sink its teeth into something of substance. This seems to be at least partially by choice, because if it did that, then the movie would have to commit to being a star-driven movie centered around Fiennes. And while the movie is marketed as such, this movie is just as interested in being a coming-of-age story about a trio of 17-year-old boys just trying to get laid before heading out to war.
Again, if the movie leaned fully into this angle, perhaps it'd provide a memorable experience. Though I'll admit, "The Choral" doesn't exactly handle its sexual themes with deft hand, so perhaps not leaning into that aspect of the film was for the best.
There truly is potential in "The Choral." Fiennes' portrayal of the German-loving Brit who doesn't fit into his nation anymore could make for an incredible character study. Similarly, the performance of Jacob Dudman as Clyde would be incredible to explore as a focal point of the story. He's a soldier freshly returned home to Ramsden without his right arm, only to discover his girlfriend (Emily Fairn) thought he was dead and moved on to another man (Taylor Uttley).
Clyde joins the choir at Guthrie's behest, despite his ex and her new lover both being in the choral group as well. It's a form of therapy for Clyde, allowing him to exercise some of the demons from the war. Demons that he shares with members of the choir in a brief monologue that is probably the movie's high point. At the end of the movie, his ex-girlfriend's new man ships out to the war that maimed Clyde mere months earlier, leaving him, ironically, alone with the woman he thought he'd spend his postwar years with.
Exploring any aspect of that complexity further would have anyone salivating, but "The Choral," frustratingly, refuses to do so. Instead, it merely teases us with glimpses at the deep exploration of how war affects people that it had the potential to be, while ultimately delivering a fine but utterly forgettable historical fiction about a town putting on a play. If that's still of interest to you, this film is still passable. But I wouldn't spend the dozens of dollars a night out at the movies requires to do it.
"The Choral" is in U.S. theaters now
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