A famed conductor discovers he has an equally musically talented brother
who works in a school cafeteria.
Review by
Benjamin Poole
Directed by: Emmanuel Courcol
Starring: Benjamin Lavernhe, Pierre Lottin, Sarah Suco
It is always unsettling to watch an orchestra practice. Shorn of the
concert hall's grand context, sans the respectful awe of the audience, and
replete with mistakes, missed cues and someone just out of time/pitch it's
that old adage about seeing inside the sausage factory. It takes the sheen
off. And here, in the opening sequences of Emmanuel Courcol's
(writing duties shared with Irène Muscari, Oriane Bonduel, Marianne
Tomersy and Khaled Amara) The Marching Band, wherein we see superstar
conductor Thibaut (Benjamin Lavernhe de la Comédie-Française) marshal his
ensemble, we are privy to the unglamorous quotidian of hard work, sweat
and stress in a stark corrective to the escapist bliss of honed
performance. And speaking of the grim witness of food manufacture, in a
loaded crosscut from Thibaut's practice room, the narrative transitions to
a canteen kitchen where we see Jimmy (Gallic bad boy Pierre Lottin) at
work where he chastises a co-worker for licking the very spoon about to be
used to serve up pie.
It's an instructive lead into The Marching Band, a film which is
interested in exploring both aspects of life which are necessarily unseen,
and also the dimensions of narratives which are often left unexplored.
Slight spoilers follow... It transpires that Thibaut has leukaemia, with a
million to one chance of survival IF he can find a suitable bone marrow
donor. The plot immediately intensifies when it turns out that Thibaut's
willing sister is not actually his biological relation and that he was
adopted. Yet hope manifests in the rugged form of Jimmy, a potential
benefactor whom Thibaut has tracked down as his blood brother, separated
at birth.
In the above sentences alone, there is enough budding drama to
power an ongoing Sunday night mini-series: Thibaut's run of shocking
discoveries, the urgency of locating Jimmy, the latter's potential
refusal. But what is intriguing about The Marching Band is how those plot
points are all resolved within the first 10 minutes or so: after initial
reluctance Jimmy duly steps up, Thibaut is ostensibly in remission, and a
familial bond is forged. What Courcol and co are interested in is
what happens after Cinderella marries Prince Charming: the variable
aftermath of such life altering paradigms.
In a Willy Russell dynamic, Jimmy and Thibaut have been nurtured via
different environments. Precious and privileged, Thibaut lives an
international life of fame and linen suits, while denimed Jimmy is ouvrier
and lives in a province besieged by industrial action. But just as in
Blood Brothers, the two men share a mutual nature with Jimmy playing in
the titular consortium and possessing perfect pitch. The Marching Band
suggests that while Thibaut no doubt worked hard for his position ("I
earned this," he maintains during one of the brothers' inevitable
squabbles), Jimmy is the more naturally gifted sibling - the Ron to his
Russell - with fate failing to provide the same opportunities as Thibaut
enjoyed. What follows in The Marching Band is a poignant examination of
class, community and male pride.
Thibaut owes Jimmy his continuing existence and wants to show his
gratitude, but what if Jimmy feels that his new-found brother's patronage
is emasculating? Jimmy is looked up to within his close-knit community
(the depiction of le village life, and the rat-tag band, is a sweet
pleasure), but Thibaut's gratitude, usually demonstrated in the form of
remuneration, highlights Jimmy's inability to make a real difference to
the ailing community. It is also interesting that the one way in which
Jimmy could be supported by Thibaut - ie, by fast tracking him towards the
hallowed stages of prestige musicianship - is invalid. Courcol makes clear that, albeit favouring those that can afford the time and
space for dedicated practice, this world operates within a meritocracy:
one of The Marching Band's many hard, realistic truths. The Cinderella
allusion of earlier becomes brutally apposite as The Marching Band moves
at glissando pace towards an ending which is anything but fairy tale.
The Marching Band is in UK/ROI
cinemas from May 16th.
