REVIEW: The Choral - a superb late-career masterpiece from Alan Bennett

Alan Bennett’s beautiful new ensemble piece offers true poignancy in its tale of music bringing a community together at the very worst of times.

In a fictional Yorkshire town, during the First World War, the local choral is facing up to the loss of its chorus master who has gone off to fight. With varying degrees of reluctance they bring in Dr Guthrie (Ralph Fiennes), a man who has found his greatest musical fulfilment in, horror of horrors, Germany and isn’t afraid to let every know. Where others see division, he sees only Germany’s great exultation in music – which is precisely what proceeds to bring everyone together.

Beautifully balanced, the film weaves together a wealth of interconnecting stories: the young soldier – Jacob Dudman's Clyde – who returns from the horror of war with one arm only to discover his girlfriend (Emily Fairn as Bella) finding her affections elsewhere; the self-important mill-owner (Roger Allam) with a love of music to match his lack of talent and his sadness elsewhere; and Amara Okereke’s God-fearing Salvation Army member who sings like an angel – and becomes one. Lyndsey Marshal’s local prostitute is also in the choir, lending her performance a feather-ruffling sensuality which certain of the men happily accept on their regular visits.

Superbly and consistently, the film avoids all sentimentality – but goodness, the power and the passion really do come through when they finally reach the stage with their much-adapted Dream of Gerontius, a piece to which, in straitened circumstances, they have given heart-breaking context. Leading the performance with a voice to die for is the one-armed soldier who could so easily have died. Also in the chorus are a group of young men for whom this is effectively the final farewell before they leave for the front.

Balancing it all with comedy is Simon Russell Beale’s over-the-top in another sense Elgar, charming and cantankerous in an instant.

Filmed in the most beautiful surroundings and beautifully costumed, this is a quietly powerful film which draws you in – a late-career masterpiece from Alan Bennett.