Film Review — The Choral

It’s easy to be cynical about a film like The Choral, dismissing it as Sunday teatime, cosy British afternoon viewing, even if it is set during the First World War. However, this proved better than I expected, albeit with a slightly uneven tone, and one particularly egregious, narratively contrived point with which I took great issue. More of that in a moment.

Set in the fictional town of Ramsden, Yorkshire, circa 1916, the film concerns said town’s choral society. It is losing members left, right, and centre to the war effort, including the choirmaster. The society, which includes mill owner Alderman Bernard Duxbury (Roger Allam) and photographer Mr Fyton (Mark Addy), brings in Dr Henry Guthrie (Ralph Fiennes) to replace their choirmaster; a controversial appointment, since Dr Guthrie is gay, an atheist, and has spent several years prior to the war living and working in Germany. He then decides that the society should perform his semi-radical reinvention of Edward Elgar’s “The Dream of Gerontius”, though a serious recruitment drive is needed to attract new members.