Doing the rounds of the art house circuit is The Concert, a pleasantly enjoyable Russian-French co-production that is also something of a feel good movie. Thirty years ago Andrei Filipov (Alexei Guskov) was sacked as the conductor of the prestigious Bolshoi Orchestra because he refused to fire his Jewish musicians. He was worked as a janitor in the Bolshoi theatre building ever since, a humiliating position for him given his former reputation and status. He is holding out for his long-promised reinstatement. Then he intercepts a faxed offer from a Parisian theatre, requesting the Bolshoi Orchestra to play in a special one-off concert. Filipov seizes this opportunity to try and find redemption and prove himself again. Filipov has less than two weeks to assemble his orchestra and get them ready for this concert. He starts to round up his former musicians, many of whom have fallen on hard times and eke out an existence any way they can. They haven't played together for thirty years; indeed, many of them haven't played professionally for decades. Filipov enlists the help of Gavrilov (Valeri Barinov), the man who sacked him, a staunch idealist and loyal communist who is acknowledged as the best manager the Bolshoi ever had. The motley troupe heads off to Paris with false passports and visas. But upon arrival in the city of lights the whole enterprise threatens to fall apart as the musicians head off to do their own thing. Filipov also requests that noted violinist Anne-Marie Jacquet (played by Melanie Laurent, from Inglorious Basterds, etc) play the solo. Anne-Marie yearns for the parents she has never known. Filipov knows the secret about Jacquet's parents, one, which is revealed late in the film. However, despite several comic setbacks that threaten to derail Filipov's scheme, the whole thing comes together beautifully with a climactic sequence in which the orchestra plays a complicated Tchaikovsky score to a rapt audience. Veteran Gallic actor Francois Berleand lends great support as Duplessis, the obsequious but increasingly exasperated head of the Paris theatre. The Concert has been directed by Romanian born Radu Mihaileanu, whose film Train Of Life told the story of a group of European Jews who fake their own deportation to escape the Nazis and find their way to Palestine. It has been co-written by American Matthew Robbins, whose credits include Mimic, Blood Brothers and batteries not included. Whilst The Concert is a comedy, it does contain a number of emotional moments and some biter truths about the treatment of Jews under a brutal communist regime. Mihaileanu draws plenty of laughs from the scenario, and his gentle direction keeps things moving along at a nice pace. Most of Filipov's ragtag band of musicians come across as broad stereotypes, but that is part of the fun. Although it seems a little over plotted, The Concert is an uplifting and enjoyable film, and its marvellous mix of sublime humour and farce will please audiences. Music lovers will particularly enjoy its final scenes and its wonderful emotionally satisfying payoff.
Review of The Concert
