CHORAL, THE
(director: Nicholas Hytner; screenwriters: Alan Bennett, Steven Beresford; cinematographer: Mike Eley; editor: Tariq Anwar; music: George Fenton; cast: Ralph Fiennes (Dr. Henry Guthrie), Roger Allam (Mr. Duxbury), Robert Emms (Robert Homer), Shaun Thomas (Mitch), Oliver Briscombe (Lofty, bass), Amara Okereke (Mary Lockwood, soprano), Alun Armstrong (Herbert Trickett, bass), Mark Addy (Joe Fyton, bass), Emily Fairn (Bella Holmes, soprano), Taylor Uttley (Ellis, bass), Simon Russell Beale (Lad at Auditions), Jacob Dudman (Clyde, tenor), Lyndsey Marshal (Mrs. Bishop), Ron Cook (Rev. Woodhead); Runtime: 108; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Damlan Jones, Kevin Loader, Nicholas Hytner; Sony Picture Classics; 2026-UK/USA)
“Surprisingly shot without sentimentality.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Brit filmmaker Nicholas Hytner (“The Madness of King George”/”The History Boys”) efficiently directs this uplifting peaceful wartime story. It’s finely written with dry Brit humor by the 91-year-old Alan Bennett and Steven Beresford.
It’s a moving tale of music as a way of coping with the horrors of WW I.
The brilliant Dr. Henry Guthrie (Ralph Fiennes) is recruited by the town council of Ramsden and its leader Mr. Duxbury (Roger Allam) to take over a British choral society in 1916 in the Yorkshire mill town that’s lost many of the men in the band to the army. The elderly bachelor Guthrie gets the position despite some misgivings the council has over his supposed sexual escapades and that he has been living in Germany the last few years.
The community reacts in a positive way to the joyous music provided by Guthrie.
In a key musical scene, the orchestra rehearses Elgar’s “The Dream of Gerontius. The sweet dispositioned angelic voiced Mary (Amara Okereke), a talented Salvation Army singer, blossoms in the key role of the soprano singer.
The old-fashioned musical drama is a crowd-pleaser, with many colorful characters around, and is surprisingly shot without sentimentality. Its only faults are too many unneeded subplots and most of the characters are undeveloped.
REVIEWED ON 1/24/2026 GRADE: B
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