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歌聲伴我心
The Choir
《LES CHORISTES》

關於師生關係的電影向來都是世界各地不少電影人心中的那杯茶，即使處於影壇領導地位的荷李活，以師生關係為主題的勵志作品也比比皆是，其中《暴雨驕陽》、《生命因你動聽》、《非常教師》、《弦動我心》以至近期走輕鬆搞笑路線的《阿Sir嚟自樂人谷》等，都是這類型電影中觀眾耳熟能詳的例子。而靈感取材自1945年法國音樂劇《A Cage of Nightingales》（"LA CAGE AUX ROSSIGNOLS"）的《歌聲伴我心》，相信日後也會在影迷心目中佔著一重要位置。

《歌聲伴我心》今年3月17日在法國326間戲院公映，首周票房高達540萬美元（約4,200萬港元），每院平均收入為16,500美元（約129,000港元），更加是本年度法國本土之冠，本片也是今年至現在為止當地唯一一部連奪三星期票房冠軍的電影，成功力壓多部同期上映的荷李活大製作如《大魚奇緣》、《情場算死草》及在北美大收的爭議性電影《受難曲》，氣勢一時無兩。本片在法國叫好叫座，口碑載道，第五周及第七周的票房都不跌反升，收入比之前一周分別增加4%及7%，可見其韌力異常驚人。迄今為止，本片在法國本土已累積超過4,700萬美元（約3億6,660萬港元）票房（截至7月27日），入場人數突破六百萬人次，是當地今年上映的最賣座電影，電影至今仍在法國上映。

而一向積極搜尋世界各地佳作的美國電影公司Miramax，已一早對《歌聲伴我心》獨具慧眼，該公司二月時在一年一度的歐洲影壇盛事柏林影展中的歐洲電影市場上，已率先與出品本片的法國電影公司Pathe International達成協議，取得此片的發行權，而且Miramax不單只在北美洲發行本片，該公司更計劃安排本片在南美洲、澳洲及紐西蘭等地陸續上映，可見Miramax對本片甚為重視。

一部閃爍人心的故事。
 全球著名的指揮家莫朗（積葵貝林 飾）重回法國故地出席他母親的葬禮，老同學皮比諾（迪迪亞菲林 飾）給他一本故人的日記，一幕幕童年回憶浮現眼前 ….

這本日記正是當年莫朗音樂老師馬圖，記載每天教學點滴，莫朗慢慢細味這位改變了他一生的老師當年的心境。

馬圖（謝勒尊諾 飾）是一個甚具才華但鬱鬱不得志的音樂人，不過在1949年的法國郊區，實在沒有太多工作讓馬圖選擇，最終他成為了一間男生寄宿學校的班主任，這所學校有一個外號叫「石池學校」，裡面的大多數的學生行為上都有問題，而且部份更加是孤兒。

到任後馬圖發現學校的校長賴桑（法蘭高貝連特 飾）以殘暴高壓的手段管治這班問題少年，動不動便體罰甚至把他們鎖上，雖然馬圖性格較沉靜，但他也勇於挺身而出，並嘗試找尋方法改善這種情況。由於他是一個作曲家，聽到一些學生以咄陋的歌詞取笑他，他認為這是一個好機會讓學生們認識一下唱歌的奧妙！

馬圖開始教學生們唱歌的技巧，又特別創作一些歌曲給他們。開始時事情當然不會來得如此順利，期間馬圖須克服不少障礙，其中一個最大的麻煩製造者就是莫朗（尚達提斯摩利亞 飾），莫朗擁有天使的面孔但卻有魔鬼的性格，諷刺的是他也有一把繞樑三日的歌喉，馬圖想盡辦法造就這位天才 ?

製作花絮
 重拍經典皆因童年
 當基斯杜巴哈提亞完成執導首部短片後，他便積極找尋一個好故事拍攝其首部電影長片，原來他心底裡早已認定這部電影必須與其4至8歲的童年有關，而且最好以音樂為主題，因此這個組合自然讓他想起7、8歲時看過的音樂電影《A Cage of Nightingales》，當年他深受這部作品感動，雖然30多年後的今天他已把片中大部份的情節都忘掉，但電影的魅力及神髓依然長留心底，因此決定把這部1945年舊作重拍。

對於主角馬圖 的人選，巴哈提亞一早已屬意由相識多年的好友謝勒尊諾飾演，而謝勒同時也兼任本片監製。巴哈提亞指謝勒看完本片劇本的三份草稿後，提供了不少有見地的意見，他說：「謝勒對劇本的問題有不可思議的能力，他也知道怎去預測觀眾的期望。」謝勒原來又介紹了編劇菲臘盧斯卻維予巴哈提亞認識，菲臘盧斯卻維擅於發展角色心理，二人合作後令角色更有深度，故事情節也更為圓熟。

謝勒坦言當初巴哈提亞向他表示有興趣重拍《A Cage of Nightingales》時，他建議巴哈提亞把電影的故事背景設在不太遙遠的過去，他打趣說如故事發生在今日，主角馬圖便要變成一個在市中心教小朋友唱rap的老師，整部電影都會失去神韻。最終巴哈提亞聰明地把故事設在戲劇化的戰後時期，但也巧妙地加插了一段感人的現代場面。

主角人選眾裡尋他
 巴哈提亞一開始便不想單單起用一個兒童演員，之後再以幕後代唱了事，他希望找一位真正的歌手演繹主角莫朗。雖然他知道這個人選並不易找，但仍一直努力搜尋。在2003年3月，他與般奴高尼遊遍全國，終於在位於里昂斯的聖馬克學校兒童合唱團中發現了擁有悅耳聲線及樣貌討好的12歲男孩尚達提斯摩利亞，巴哈提亞邀請他試鏡後，便立刻鎖定他是飾演主角的最佳人選。

而挑選片中其他合唱團成員時，巴哈提亞也不想起用專業的兒童演員，他透過工作人員從拍攝場地附近的小學及初中找來二千名有潛質的兒童試鏡，最終成功揀出為數65名8至13歲、沒有演戲經驗但自然率性的孩子。而本片監製積葵貝林的兒子Maxence Perrin也是首度參與電影演出，他在片中扮演主角好友皮比諾的童年。

創新音樂突破傳統
 多次與積葵貝林合作、先後憑《點蟲蟲》及《雪嶺傳奇》兩奪法國凱撒獎最佳原創音樂獎的著名作曲家般奴高尼，擔任本片的配樂工作，般奴高尼坦言音樂是本片的主題，所以導演基斯杜巴哈提亞早在電影開拍前9個月，即2002年9月，已開始與般奴高尼埋首製作本片的音樂部份，巴哈提亞希望盡量避免出現一般兒童合唱團的感覺，唱著聖誕頌歌似的傳統歌曲，他要求音樂充滿強勁的感覺，而且要差不多全部都是原創，最終他們二人為電影合力創作了多首歌曲。

巴哈提亞接受訪問時說：「由於我們在故事中所聽到的音樂是來自音樂老師馬圖這個角色，所以我們根據角色的演化在音樂的類型上作出相應改變。拍攝這部電影就像製作一部音樂劇。」般奴高尼則表示擔任本片合唱團指揮的Nicolas Porte給予很大支持，當然更重要是孩子們在音樂上的出色表現。經過大家努力嘗試後，電影未開鏡前歌唱部份已灌錄完成，最終再加上悠揚悅耳的管弦樂襯托。

籌備工作一絲不苟
 除了選角外，拍攝場景也是製作本片的一個重要元素。電影其實是在歷史悠久的拉威爾古堡取景，周圍的環境莊嚴肅穆，不過巴哈提亞更希望把整個佈景創造成一沉鬱簡樸及具威脅性的環境，巴哈提亞說：「其實如果你看看那時期的照片，都是一些典型官立學校模樣的建築物，外貌很熟悉及令人安心，但我卻要製造比現實更大的建築物，有點堂皇壯觀及荒涼的感覺。」他此舉其實是想突顯那群在框架中心的孩子的孤立感覺，所以佈景的比例會跟現實有一點距離，目的就是想表達出這不單單只是一個課室，而是一個住了一些特別人物的世界。

另一方面，負責服裝設計的法蘭高古根也一絲不苟，開拍前數月他便與助手詳細參考有關那時期的文件，他們發現要租用合適的戲服是非常困難，不過經過一番努力及有有關機構的幫助後，他們終於集齊所需的材料。之後法蘭高古根便開始與戲中的小演員逐一見面，希望對他們加深認識，從而設計出配合他們的服飾及造型，突出他們個別的性格。去年7月電影正式開拍，帆布鞋及牛仔褲等全部都準備就緒，然而最初孩子們都有點抗拒，穿上戲服後感到很尷尬，不過經過髮型師為他們設計過新造型後，大家彷彿真正回到了1949年。

然而由於當時正值熱浪迫人的炎夏，經過數天拍攝後，穿上冬季戲服的孩子們晚上回來更衣時，他們的腳都長出水泡，穿著的鞋子破爛，鞋底全都鬆開，而且他們的衣服和褲子都滿是裂縫及破洞，因此每天負責服裝的工作人員都十分忙碌，孩子們就更加難以理解為何他們在酷熱的天氣下還要穿上厚厚的冬季服飾。不過儘管如此，服裝棚內每天都洋溢著一遍活潑歡樂的氣氛。

老師學生打成一片
 雖然謝勒在本片扮演一個音樂人，但開始時他最害怕就是拍攝合唱的場面，但最後出來的結果卻是十分奇妙。事實上最初開拍時大部份的孩子的確唱得很差，但其後他們愈來愈進步，拍至結尾時他們全都唱得很有水準，情形與電影中的學生如出一轍。而謝勒為把這個音樂老師演得更傳神，也特別注意其角色的外表－穿著舊鞋、經常穿著同一套衣服，配以同一件破舊的外套。而拍攝合唱場面時，真正的指揮指導謝勒如何打拍子及向他展示正確的姿勢，好讓他拍攝指揮學生的戲份時能得心應手。

謝勒與這群小朋友也漸漸產生一份莫名的感情，每天拍攝完成後，他們都會與謝勒聊天，向他提及他們家中的瑣事、悲傷煩惱的東西或者引人發笑的笑話。而煞科當日場面可謂非常感人，所有小朋友都因離別在即而禁不住落淚，謝勒坦言感覺彷如學期尾老師要與他的學生說再見一樣。

原聲大碟愈賣愈旺
 《歌聲伴我心》的電影原聲大碟在電影公映前四天，即3月13日公開發售，首周入榜只位列145位，但隨著電影開畫，之後一周已瞬即打入30大。由於電影取得空前成功，又加上大碟內的歌曲悅耳動聽，令當地出現一片搶購潮，大碟的銷量不斷颷升，成功闖入銷量榜前10位，並於上榜第六周開始，連續三周高踞法國大碟銷量榜冠軍，壓倒爵士天后Diana Krall的《The Girl in the Other Room》及人氣R&B男歌手Usher的美國大碟榜冠軍大碟《Confessions》等多張暢銷唱片。此碟愈賣愈旺，其走勢及韌力與電影本身不遑多讓，銷量之佳，以一張電影原聲大碟而言實屬罕見，氣勢一如當年電影及原聲大碟同樣紅遍法國的超人氣電影《天使愛美麗》。

陣容介紹
 演員
 謝勒尊諾（Gerard Jugnot）
1951年5月4日在法國巴黎出生的謝勒尊諾，曾三度競逐有「法國奧斯卡」之稱的凱撒電影頒獎禮，是法國影壇有數的演技派男星，曾主演過《逃逃碰著黑》及《Marthe》等作品。擅長演繹小人物的他，今次在本片中扮演一名努力把一群問題學生帶回正途的潦倒音樂人。謝勒尊諾除了是一位擁有30年演戲經驗的出色演員外，也自編自導自演過多部電影，當中包括《Wonderful Times》及《Blue Helmet》等，堪稱多才多藝。

導演
 基斯杜巴哈提亞（Christophe Barratier）
巴哈提亞並非從電影行業出身，他其實是一位出類拔萃的古典結他手。基斯杜巴哈提亞畢業於著名的巴黎師範音樂學院，曾經在多個國際性大型結他比賽中勝出。1991年他加入本片監製積葵貝林創立的電影公司Galatee Films，並為該公司製作的多部電影包括《點蟲蟲》、《雪嶺傳奇》及《鳥與夢飛行》等擔任監製一職。

2002年基斯杜巴哈提亞自編自導了處女作《The Tombs》，這部改編自同名小說的短片由參演過《22世紀殺人網絡》系列的法國紅星林拔韋遜（Lambert　Wilson）主演。《歌聲伴我心》是其執導的首部電影長片。

監製兼演員
 積葵貝林（Jacques Perrin）
積葵貝林於1941年7月13日在法國巴黎出生，屹立影壇40多年。他早年多扮演英雄角色，並憑1966年電影《半個男人》榮膺威尼斯影展最佳男主角，成就非凡。積葵貝林還與嘉芙蓮丹露（Catherine Deneuve）及歌羅茱黛（Claude Jade）等法國著名女星合作過多部浪漫愛情電影。積葵貝林從影以來共演出超過100部電影及電視作品，他近年最讓觀眾留下深刻印象的演出，莫過於在榮獲奧斯卡及金球獎最佳外語片等多個國際榮譽的經典電影《星光伴我心》中，飾演主角Salvatore的成年版。此外，2001年他也參與了賣座電影《狙魔特攻》的演出。

積葵貝林在幕後製作的才能也早獲各方肯定，他有份監製的1969年電影《Z》曾入圍角逐奧斯卡最佳電影及勇奪最佳外語片，另外他也憑享譽國際的1996年紀錄片《點蟲蟲》榮獲凱撒電影獎最佳監製獎。積葵貝林喜歡製作貼近大自然的紀錄片，2001年他便自編自導兼監製了奧斯卡最佳紀錄片提名電影《鳥與夢飛行》，其餘他參與監製的名作還有《雪嶺傳奇》及《我們的911》等。

演員：    謝勒尊諾 Gerard Jugnot     
    積葵貝林 Jacques Perrin   《逃逃碰著黑》（Influence Peddling）
《Marthe》
《星光伴我心》（Cinema Paradiso）
導演：   基斯杜巴哈提亞   《The Tombs》（導演）
《點蟲蟲》（Microcosmos）（監製）
《雪嶺傳奇》（Himalaya）（監製）
《鳥與夢飛行》（Winged Migration）（監製）
監製：   積葵貝林   《星光伴我心》（Cinema Paradiso）（演員）
《狙魔特攻》（Brotherhood of the Wolf）（演員）
《鳥與夢飛行》（Winged Migration）（編、導、監製）
《點蟲蟲》（Microcosmos）（監製）
《雪嶺傳奇》（Himalaya）（監製）
《我們的911》（11'09''01 - September 11）（聯合監製）

發行﹕    泛亞影業有限公司
上映日期：   9月16日
級別：   IIA
片長：   97分鐘
院線：   嘉禾港威、UA金鐘、UA太古城、UA沙田、奧海城百老匯、百老匯電影中心、IFC、AMC

JACQUES PERRIN

presents

Les Choristes

(The Choir)

A CHRISTOPHE BARRATIER film
A Franco-Swiss coproduction
Galatée Films
Vega Film AG (Switzerland)
Pathé Renn Production
France 2 Cinéma
Novo Arturo Films
in association with
Banque Populaire Images 4
and CP Medien
with the participation of Canal+
with the assistance of the Conseil Général du Puy-de-Dome
Associate Producers
Romain Le Grand
Ruth Waldburger
Gérard Jugnot
Produced by
Jacques Perrin - Arthur Cohn
Nicolas Mauvernay
Running time: 95 mins.
Release date (France) March 17, 2004
www.leschoristes-lefilm.com

Images associated with childhood, with our founding emotions, are dear to us.

Later, through the memory of events experienced during this apprenticeship to life, their full importance takes shape - nothing was benign after all.

Fleeting joys and inconsolable tears - it all passes but it is never erased.

And if one note of music, one song, one chorus happens to be connected to these distant echoes, their stamp is definitely stronger.

That is probably what I found so moving about Christophe Barratier's script "Les Choristes."

A strict boarding school, rebellious children, a chorus that brings them together - all making for what is an excellent representation of childhood as symbol.

- JACQUES PERRIN

Producer

Synopsis

In 1949, Clément Mathieu, an unemployed music teacher, is hired as supervisor in a boarding school for troubled children. The particularly repressive Rachin, the school's director, has trouble keeping these difficult pupils in line.

By introducing them to the magic of singing, Mathieu changes their lives forever…

Christophe Barratier

Director

Christophe Barratier, a classical guitarist, is a graduate of the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris and winner of several international guitar competitions.

In 1991, he joined Jacques Perrin's Galatée Films where he acted as associate producer on Children of Lumiere (Les Enfants de Lumière), Microcosmos, Himalaya and Winged Migration.

In 2001, he directed his first film, a short subject starring Lambert Wilson and Carole Weiss, based on Maupassant's novella "Les Tombales." Broadcast on Canal+ and FR3, it was in selection at the Clermont-Ferrand Festival.

Produced by Galatée Films and co-written with Philippe Lopes-Curval, Les Choristes is Christophe Barratier's first feature film.

Interview

Why did you decide to base your first film on Jean Dréville's 1945 film La Cage aux rossignols (A Cage of Nightingales)?

After Les Tombales, my short film, I was looking for a good story for my first feature film. I realized that the notes I was taking were sort of linked to my early childhood, to the emotions I felt between the ages of four and eight. Also, given my musical education, I really wanted to do a story that had to do with music. So naturally, the combination of music and childhood led me to La Cage aux rossignols. I saw that film when I was about seven or eight, in 1970 or 1971, on one of the two only TV stations. As a child, I was deeply moved. The film is now practically forgotten but its charm subsists. And it hasn't been sanctified as a "masterpiece" of French cinema either, which made it less dangerous to adapt.

The two most vivid memories that stayed with me were-the emotion produced by the children's voices and the character of the failed musician who tries, in spite of everything, to transform the world of the people around him. That's what I like in movies. In fact, the films which have influenced me the most all have this in common - how one individual can help make the world more livable. I know a film won't change things, but it can make you want to try. I like coming out of the theater feeling like I want to identify with the main character. Clément Mathieu's teaching isn't limited to music lessons, there's a life lesson as well. The movie has three themes - early childhood, music, and the passing of the torch.

Were you tempted to transpose the story to the present day?

Never. For a very simple reason. Making a story about a man who teaches singing to children today would mean first of all addressing who those children are. You'd have to get into issues like housing projects, chronic unemployment, assimilation, juvenile delinquency, and that wasn't what I wanted to do… There's also the status of the main character. Clément Mathieu, as a teacher today, would have other priorities. He would be nothing like the music teacher of the fifties.

Why put the accent on childhood?

Because it's a universal theme -everybody remembers the feeling of injustice and abandonment that a child feels when his parents are absent or deceased, the rebellion and inhibitions that can stem from it.

Whatever the social background of the children cast in the film, they needed only to put on the period costume to become children who shared the same fears, the same desires and the same sorrows.

Why set the film in 1949?

Setting the film in that precise year was intentional. Indeed, reintegration centers, commonly called "correctional houses" were set up right after the war. The Youth Protection Service (PJJ, or Protection Judiciare de la Jeunesse) was created during the same period, giving children a different legal status than adults. It was the very beginning of a sort of official child psychology, with all the wanderings goes with it. It was also the start of psychological profiling, in what was a well-intentioned desire to "oversee" them. These methods hinted at in the film seem of course, very problematic to us today. The late forties, finally, was a period of trauma. We were just coming out of the war and, as in all periods of crisis, parents had other things to deal with than bringing up their children.

Did you immediately think of Gérard Jugnot for the role of Clément Mathieu?

Yes. He's also co-producer of the film. I have a lot of confidence in his judgment - he's an excellent reader.

He read all three drafts of the script and each time gave me some very savvy advice. He has uncanny instincts about script problems and he knows how to anticipate the audience's expectations, in the best sense of that term - that is, giving them films they might like, not the ones they like already. His contributions were always right to the point. He introduced me to Philippe Lopes-Curval, with whom he had just written Monsieur Batignole. Philippe had some very good ideas, especially in developing the characters' psychology - whether it was the schoolmaster played by Francois Berléand, for whom the children are the symbol of a failed career, or Chabert, played by Kad Merad.

How did you find the children?

First of all, I really wanted the role of the little soloist to be played by a real singer. I knew that wasn't easy to find, but I got incredibly lucky. As we toured France, listening to major children's choruses to pick the one for the film soundtrack, we discovered the young Jean-Baptiste Maunier, the soloist of "Petits chanteurs de Saint-Marc" in Lyons. He has an exceptional and, very moving voice. When he nailed his acting auditions, I had made up my mind.

For the rest of the chorus, I didn't want "professional" child actors because I didn't want to fall into the trap of the "trained seal" syndrome. We went looking for kids around the area where we were shooting, in the region of Auvergne. Sylvie Brocheré and her assistant culled children from elementary and junior high schools around Clermont-Ferrand. After auditioning over 2000 kids, I found enough "natural actors" among them to complete the cast. Only the Parisians, Théodule Carré Cassaigne and Thomas Blumenthal, had any acting experience and they blended in with the "neophytes" very smoothly. As for Maxence Perrin (Pe'pinto), Jacques' son, this was of course his first experience. At first, they all sang along to play-back recordings we had made with the chorus in Lyons, but very quickly that was no longer necessary. Although they were all complete novices, they learned all the pieces by heart and sang them with unbelievable energy.

Besides the casting, what were the most vital elements of the production?

The sets. I wanted to visually re-create an austere and practically threatening place - giving the emotion preference over realism. In actual fact, when you look at pictures from the period, the buildings were classic public school type buildings, familiar and reassuring. But I wanted an oversized building, something imposing and inhospitable, really off the scale, so I could communicate the sensations of a child, for whom everything is bigger and more impressive than reality.

What choices did you make as a director using those sets?

First, I wanted to film it in scope so I could signify the crushing isolation of these tiny children at the center of the frame. We had to have a fairly large frame to film the whole of the main set, the classroom. We were ready to depart a little from reality in order to convey the feeling that we're not in a mere classroom but, in a world peopled with some special characters.

I'm also very fond of a style which, in musical terms, is called legato, that is, "connected" or "flowing." I prefer that to a frantic and shaky style. Fewer shots, but more travellings, pans, dissolves and fades to black. I also wanted elegant transitions from scene to scene, especially in the sung parts , -which had to work with some quick cuts following a certain musical rhythm. At the sound mix, we worked on the evolution of the voices in the chorus, using the sound quality and even the musical quality to our advantage. We had to give the audience the sense of time passing by, just as the voices from the chorus were also enolving.

What about the music?

Bruno Coulais and I started working in September 2002, nine months before the shoot. I wanted to avoid the "children's chorus" feel , with your typical Christmas carols and fireplace songs. The music had to be really strong, almost completely original and not from an existing repertory. The music we hear in the story is that of Clément Mathieu, so we varied the genres and the musical climates according to the character's evolution. Making this film was often like making a musical.

Now that the film is completed, what do you take away from it?

The feeling that I had been unconsciously walking around with this story inside me for a long time. Telling it probably allowed me to exorcise certain events of my own life, since I was a child musician. It was good therapy, allowing some closure about my childhood, which wasn't an unhappy one at all but was at times difficult and which, like many other people, made me fragile. I also got the chance to talk about music, which remains one of my life's passions. Like Clément Mathieu, I never had my musical career. One day I just gave it all up. I knew I would have to talk about it one day, if only to decide whether that move was courageous or cowardly. I think pretty much guess who I am through each of the characters in Les Choristes… and that includes the schoolmaster!

Gérard Jugnot

Interview

How did you come to be Clément Mathieu?

I've known Christophe Barratier for a pretty long time. We share a taste for vintage French cinema, all those films which starred old French actors they called the "eccentrics" The most iconic for me would be, Noel Noel, whom I admire no end. So one day Christophe told me about his desire to direct his version of La Cage aux Rossignols (A Cage of Nightingales). I first told him that was great but that it could also turn out to be a "corny" idea, a guy getting kids to sing, saving them from solitude through a chorus-…You had to make a modern movie set in the not-too-distant past, because if it took place today, you'd have to transform my character into a teacher who teaches kids to rap in the inner city! It could have wound up playing to the cheap seats. In the end, Christophe was very smart - setting the action in the very dramatic post-war period but also giving us a very moving scene which takes place in the present where a character thinks about his past and realizes that he owes his success to someone he has forgotten, who he's let on the wayside of his life. It's very nostalgic, extremely sincere and atypical, very much in keeping with what Jacques Perrin produces.

Did you read the various drafts of the script?

Yes. The first draft was perhaps a little too mellow. We talked about it with Christophe and that's when we brought Philippe Lopes-Curval in. I know him well, and their collaboration strengthened the story, giving the characters some rough edges and therefore little more depth.

What was your decision to act in the film based on in the end?

Different things. What I like about this movie is that it doesn't seem like a "first time director's" work. Also the musical aspect is surprising, really great. The music brings a true dynamic to the story, especially with the children singing. You can feel Christophe has as much passion for film as he does for music. In fact, he composed two of the pieces sung in the film, along with Bruno Coulais. The result is a film without sappiness, with all the earmarks of great emotion and evocative powers. It has the charm of writing on a blackboard, the charm of those musty childhoods we all had.

Your childhood?

Yes, it reminds me of my childhood in the sixties - which wasn't that harsh, but the feeling of boredom and abandon was there. It's something that's pretty universal.

How would you define your character?

He's a Chaplinesque character. More of a loser than Noel Noel in La Cage aux Rossignols who got married, wrote a book about his experience and winds up a sparkling success. In Christophe's film, Clément Mathieu is a man who didn't succeed as a musician but who acts so that others can succeed. This passer-of-the-flame side to the character moves me. People like him have drawn the curtain on their own personal lives. A lot of teachers have that kind of altruism. Of course, that begs the question of what really is success in life.

What helped you to play this character?

I paid a lot of attention to details in his physical appearance - wearing old shoes, never changing his suit, with the same threadbare jacket. For the chorus scenes, the conductor guided me, helped me keep the measure and showed me the right gestures to keep it credible when I was conducting the children.

How is acting with children special?

I've made many movies with children. They guide you. The characters work themselves out through what's there in front of you. Here, I was in a classroom during a heat wave with forty kids who were very nice but who could wear you out with their energy. To get them out of the classroom took fifteen minutes but getting them back in took two hours. The set was a mixture of "goofing around" and strictness. It was very emotional and it's wonderful when you love kids. As it happens, a few of my films were on TV during the shoot. That made them both like me and respect me more. As soon as work was over, they came to tell me about their family stuff, their heartbreaks, or just things that had made them laugh. The last day was very emotional. All the kids were in tears. I really felt like a teacher who was leaving his pupils at the end of the school year. I knew them all and, all their quirks. The ones you notice right away, the ones who lay low, the ones you think have a bright future, others where you feel like they've got a rougher road to walk. And all the time you have to be careful not to favor anyone. And of course I had to help them act, to stay natural and at the same time forcing them to listen to me. That's where my experiences in shooting Scout toujours or Monsieur Batignole came in very handy.

Why did you choose to be associate producer on Les Choristes?

It's a way of showing that I believe in this film, of getting involved. But the one who took most of the risks was Jacques Perrin. He had no qualms about re-shooting scenes, about providing the means to make it work. He knows that's what money is for - to make movies.

Did you know your fellow actors, Francois Berléand, Kad Merad?

I knew them, but I had never worked with them. I never managed to do a movie with Francois Berléand and he does two hundred a year! He's fabulous and we got along really well. I could say as much about Kad, who showed that he's really an actor, not just a comedian.

What were the scenes you were most afraid to shoot?

The chorus scenes. But in fact they turned out to be absolutely magic because the kids, who were singing to a recording at the beginning of the shoot, most of them very badly, wound up singing very well by the end of the film, just like in the story. I discovered the strength of the singing voice. You know, a lot of people sing in choruses. Singing is very liberating.

What do you take away from this film?

The film begins in clouds and ends in the sunshine. I don't know if it's because I often feel like an aging child, but this shoot with all those kids, that nostalgia for childhood, all those emotions have something in common with a fantastic time at a summer camp.

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