User reviews

Greetings again from the darkness. Typically when a film is billed is a "French comedy", we can expect a farcical good time with self-centered characters who flitter their days away. Director Radhu Mihaileanu delivers something completely different and unexpected.

Two really fine performances drive this story. Aleksei Guskov plays Andrei Filipov, the one time conductor of the Bolshoi orchestra, who lost his beloved job because he employed Jewish musicians during the harshest of Communist days. Nearly three decades later he finds himself as the janitor in the same hall where he once conducted. Because of this, an opportunity presents itself that allows him to seek redemption in his own life, and that of another.

Melanie Laurent, who was so outstanding as the theatre manager with a nasty plan in Inglourious Basterds, plays Anne-Marie Jacquet - a violin virtuoso who Filipov demands to have in his orchestra for a show in Paris. Ms. Laurent displays tremendous screen presence with minimal dialogue. She is quite a talent and I hope she spends more time in the U.S. making movies! The comedy portion of the film occurs as Filipov frantically assembles his orchestra from all over the city. They have each gone their separate ways and some no longer even have their own instruments. Of course, none of the musical portion is believable, but as I said, this is a story of redemption.

The film climaxes with a wonderful onstage performance combined with a startling montage that really puts the details into the story that's been skirted for the first 90 minutes. It is a wonderful ending to a decent film that really had the potential to be amazing.

This is the first film of Radu Mihaileanu that really did it to me. It is moving, I resonated with the subject, I laughed when it was funny and I was close to tears when it meant to be emotional. Yet, as his previous films, it is not a masterpiece just a good film to remember. Which is no small matter either.

Mihaileanu's previous films were each of them based on original and different ideas. in each of those the ideas hold above the execution. 'Train de vie' was one of the first films to deal with Holocaust from a comic perspective, and maybe the most interesting idea of all, better even as Begnini's maybe. 'Les pygmees de Carlo' dealt with the communication between cultures in an unusual way. 'Vas, viens, et deviens' is the only movie until now to deal with the Ethiopian immigration to Israel. Here, in 'Le Concert' two main ideas dominate the action. One is about the new culture of vulgarity and mediocrity that dominates the life after the fall of the Communism. The main hero (wonderfully acted by Aleksei Gluskov) is a great conductor. His life and career were broken during the Communist rule for having opposed the regime of Brezhnev. Yet, the change of the social order did not put him back in place, as the collaborators of the old regime and the new oligarchs took the place of the rulers, siding the real values. The second idea is that music redeems, transcends politics, and is worth any risks and sacrifices.

'Le Concert' is correspondingly divided into two parts. The first one is a brilliant comedy, one of the best that I have seen lately. It is based on stereotypes one may argue, the stereotype of the Russians and French, of the Jews and Gypsies, of musicians and impresarios, Communists and oligarchs, but in these case they work, and the result is true and funny. The Russian orchestra of former musicians, sided away by the new times makes it to Paris under the label of the Bolshoi to give the concert of their lives, the proof that Tchaikovsky, and Russian music, and value are still there despite all. Then the second part begins, the one in which all becomes personal, Then the second part begins, the one in which all becomes personal, with a seemingly love story which turns to be something completely different, a much more dramatic story in which music is not only revenge but also personal redemption, is not only survival but also coming from beyond the graves of a tragic history.

This is were the strength and the weakness of Radu Mihaileanu's art meet. All the film converges to the final scene, the one of the concert in Paris, we know it from the beginning. All the explanation will be present in that scene, and this is the bet and the risk of any music film in the history of cinema. The result is only a partial win. Tchaikovsky's Concerto for Violin provides the appropriate background, and the emotional result is immediate. The doubts start after the screening ends. The situation is certainly less than credible, from an intrigue and musical point of view. Mihaileanu's execution is too direct, he plays too much on short term emotions, tears are too apparent. He has huge ideas, and one day he may turn them into one or more great movies. 'Le Concert' is too explicit, it lacks the patience and the sophistication to be that one .

If you love music this will quickly become a favorite for you.

This movie is all about music. An orchestra conductor is given a second chance 30 years later and he definitely grabs it.

Life flows through this movie. You can detect how music mixes with life and how music is a part and at the same time is not a part of life.

Music lifts you beyond life.

I also liked the comedy parts. Life is tragedy and comedy and music encompasses it all.

Be advised that the director likes to play and the mixture between fantasy and real life is present throughout the whole movie.

Also, please note the gypsy who arranges the passport issue. In real life he is a member of the Romanian music band Taraf des Haidouks (http://www.myspace.com/tarafdehaidouksbandofgypsies). They have amazing music and you will also be treated with a small sample in the movie. He is one of my favorite characters in the movie and one of my favorite performers on stage.

I'm trying to find any downsides to this movie but I personally can't. The person who accompanied me to the cinema said it was too...soapy. I was just sorry I was not alone in my home...This is a movie where you meet yourself so you'd better not have witnesses.

I liked Le Train De La Vie, but i loved Le Concert. Mihaileanu keeps things simple and withholds just a couple of info, in order to reveal the actual truth at the end of the movie. He creates a drama without forcing you into tears from the beginning, consolidating every dramatic moment with a gag, joke or just a funny face. He builds funny characters, that you can enjoy seeing without being worn off by their problems or issues.

He was able to make a 2 hours film that envelopes so much about drama, failure, communism, music and dedication that is quite impossible not to appreciate. This movie was quite a joy.

This is a gem of a movie. Do not miss it! Amazing rarely seen Russian actors, hilarious comedy, emotions by the bucket, tears, sublime music, tension, suspense, it's been a while since I saw anything like it. I was weary that the director, prize winner of art-house fame, would make a slow pompous contemplative film. At the contrary Le Concert is a fast moving beautifully shot comedy about music, artists, Russia, Paris and communism. The director makes the actors brilliant, even average French actors like Miou Miou or the young soloist whose name I forgot. Do not wait for the DVD: it's worth watching on a big screen with a loud digital surround to enjoy the violins and the magnificent soundtrack. Bring your tissues you will laugh and cry, a great night out guaranteed!!!

It was the screening of the Japanese film Nodame Cantabile earlier this year that piqued my interest in classical music being featured on film, but I suppose it's Le Concert that sealed the deal, although this European film did exude similar sensibilities like the Japanese one in having a conductor face insurmountable odds in turning around a makeshift, rag-tag 55 piece orchestra into one befitting of the name "Bolshoi", building up to a crescendo of a finale that just begs for an encore.

Nodame Cantabile provided a lot more romantic fluff and a quick 101 introduction to classical music and its famed composers, sort of like a McDonald's way of a fast-food sampling rich musical pieces, but it is Le Concert that persisted in wanting to use Tchaikovsky's The Violin Concerto, which is considered as one of the most difficult for the violin, to center this film around it, complete with a huge and critical backstory that makes this film well rounded, and in keeping you engaged especially with a tale about passion bordering on obsession, and the redemption of the sins of the earlier generation.

But don't get me wrong that the film is solely filled with such serious themes, as it's almost comedy all of the way to its centerpiece performance. We follow the story of Andrei Filipov (Aleksei Guskov), a one time hotshot conductor of the Bolshoi orchestra who was cut down to size, and now works as the janitor in the halls of his glorious past. He chances upon an opportunity from Paris which had invited the Bolshoi, but hence decides to hijack this opportunity, and to bring his own team of musicians on a trip that they would never forget. He's a man on a mission, and you just might wonder why he would want to take such a big risk, other than the fact that the current Bolshoi orchestra is playing like crap, but it adds to the mystery of the man, and the past that he's hiding from through the bottle.

Together with best friend Sacha (Dmitri Nazarov) who's now an ambulance driver, they go back to assemble a team comprising colleagues from the past, who have each moved onto different occupations, to convince them in joining their madcap mission - to showcase their talent once again after 30 years since their disbanding. The first component of the narrative is steeped in their mission to raise funds and sponsorship, and to seek the help of one time adversary Ivan Gavrilov (Valeriy Barinov), an ex-KGB agent who had a hand in their demise, to see them through this 3 day trip through deliberate misrepresentation because of his fluency in French.

But of course things aren't exactly the same as some 30 years back, and everyone has their own personal agenda in wanting to go to Paris, and more so when they cross borders through forged credentials, complete with a whole slew of comedy of errors when they touchdown in the City of Lights. Some may find it a tad offensive when the Russians are portrayed as boorish, from their drunk behaviour to their unreasonableness in demanding per diems immediately, for services yet to be rendered, or that Jewish Father-Son team who's more interested to fleece unsuspecting victims in their get-rich schemes.

Otherwise, director Radu Mihaileanu will keep you guessing just how this group under Filipov will succeed given their disastrous start pointing to an early debacle, and more so when star violinist Anne-Marie (Melanie Laurent of Inglourious Basterds fame) start to see through their ruse and refuse to take the stage with a bunch of unprofessionals. There's a little mystery here with regards to Anne-Marie's lineage that I have to applaud Mihaileanu for his red herrings and writers Hector Cabello Reyes and Thierry Degrandi for avoiding the obvious. Herein lies what would be a touching theme of music and harmony, of how it can bring out a unifying set of emotions, which leads on to pure aural bliss in the final act that one cannot help but to clap out loud at the end, as narrative threads get resolved, even though it resembled pretty much like a typical Japanese zero to hero tale.

The Concert won the Cesar for Best Music Written for a film and Best Sound, and it's not difficult to see why. With an excellent ensemble cast, sights, sounds and of course, Tchaiskovski, this is a film that succeeded in making classical music so integral to itself, without being too stifling for the masses to be a crowd pleaser. Highly recommended, and it goes into my books as one of the best this year!

"Le Concert" film title in French suggests French production involved (with Mélanie Laurent, Miou-Miou and François Berléand - definitely French et Paris). Core story sets in Russia, began with strains of "Elvira Madigan" - promise of familiar classical pieces we enjoy. Abrupt distraction introduced our 'hero' of the story (Andrei Filipov well-portrayed by Alexei Guskov) and hint of comedic intimations began. The rounding up of his former orchestral members (80 of them, no small matter) gave us vignettes of varying walks of Moscow life. The urgency timing of performance date in 2 weeks, the logistics of flying everyone to foreign soil of Paris - language interpretations, events-process travel visa coordination, plus a solid impersonator as the group's Bolshoi Orchestra spokesman for the journey. 'tis a lot to cohesively deliver by director Radu Mihaileanu, and he pulled it off. We get to appreciate a genuinely heart-warming movie and fantastic music played to our ears.

Plot actually thickens as we're clued into the Parisian-side of things, with the repeated 'no's' of Guylène, underplayed by Miou-Miou as the young lady violinist's guardian and agent, and the retorting 'yes's' of Anne-Marie Jacquet convincingly portrayed by Mélanie Laurent - including her virtual playing-performing on the violin (what a young successful thespian at that, whose remarkable in her role in Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds" 2009), plus the comic tempo of François Berléand as Olivier Morne Duplessis, the Parisian contact for the event. Yes, 'dramedy' leads us to unspoken secrets of the past, of artistic struggles and hard times during political differences, and, is Anne-Marie truly an orphan genius with no past?

The story reminds me of similar turn of events for artists in China during Cultural Revolution period, when they, too, had to experience hard labor camps and fatal physical coldness conditions. Chen Gang, co-creator of the "Butterfly Lovers' violin concerto" 1959 at age 24, his famous composer father Chen Gexin of many popular Mandarin songs in '30-'40s (like "Rose, Rose, I Love You") died in 1957 at age 47 and survived by his loving wife who tenaciously brought up their four children, who became successful musicians themselves. In "The Concert" we get a glimpse at such circumstances and how people affected might cope and carry on with their lives.

"The Concert" is a heart-warming movie, with its delights, humorous situations, poignant disclosures to the unfolding story, and as one would expect (so the film poster and trailer both suggest) the climatic central concert piece where we see Laurent impressively plays the violin concerto (of Tchaikovsky's). A satisfying experience all in all, encouraging want of enduring friendships not easy to come by and that we'd dearly cherish and revere.

The movie gives you an accurate feel for what it feels to struggle to survive and find your way in post-communist Eastern Europe. The tragedy of the past is still present and yet the human nature freed up from restrictions turns in completely unexpected directions. The only way to escape the day-time TV feel is to bring in plenty of sense of humor.

Radu Mihaileanu creates a master piece. I can vouch that it captures the crazy spirit of the last 20 years and the need to make sense of it all. The resolution of the movie is childish and so there were the hopes and dreams of us all in 1989.

The movie is a modern fairy tale told with harsh truths and love and compassion.

Very mixed... The director apparently couldn't make up his mind whether to make a goofy East-European Kusturica-like comedy, or a high-brow movie of redemption through music. So he made both at the same time.

There are a lot of jokes for the very low brow, and way too many clichés and moments where I had to cover my eyes in dismay at the horribly bad taste (the Russian mobster wedding, the gypsy, Russian & Jewish clichés, the Russian mafioso's mother etc).

Melanie Laurent saves the day, though. And in the end it does come out at the other end as a story of redemption through music, but I just wish the director had chosen to tell it with delicate humor instead...

This movie goes a long way to heal my nostalgia for the good films of old. A lot of the "modern" eastern European movies try very hard to be so soul searching, so psycho-dramatic, as if they are on a mission to turn and twist their bewildered audience in the hope of some intellectual and metaphysical gratification (or maybe just the hope of a Palme D'Or). Radu Mihaileanu is the master of story telling, touching souls in the best way possible, really. Yes you can pick faults, like with most movies, but if you really pay attention and let you and your feelings move with the flow of the movie, you will be in for a great soul experience. The inaccuracies, the factual errors won't matter anymore. What it does matter is that the author is pretty much exact in retrieving the atmosphere of an era which some of us actually experienced.

The Concert is a French/ Italian/Romanian/Belgian production shot in Moscow and Paris. The publicity blurb says that the musical finale is worth the ticket price alone, but I would say even reading the list of exotic names floating over the opening credits is worth a good percentage of the price.

We travel back 30 years to when Andrei, talented young conductor of the Bolshoi Orchestra, was humiliated and sacked by Breshnev for refusing to get rid of his Jewish musicians. Fast forward to the present, and we find him still working at the Bolshoi - but as a cleaner. One lucky day he finds himself alone with the office fax machine. What follows is an audacious plot to get his old sidekicks to Paris, using borrowed instruments, hired suits and fake passports, posing as the real Bolshoi for a concert at the Theatre du Chatelet. If you can imagine a story as full of colour and drama as the TV rock 'n' roll serial epic Tutti Frutti, jammed into just one cinema experience, this could be it. It's rare to see so many set pieces in one film.

I laughed out loud once or twice - and if you know what a grumpy old man I am you would realise what that means. I was also moved to tears, but I'm not telling you why. That would spoil it all - just saying that under its layer of manic fast-cut comedy the story carries a deep, dark and passionate secret which gradually reveals itself as the comedy peels off. The music is, I have to add, beautiful - whether it's Roma dance jigs in the street or Tchaikovsky in the concert hall. Bring a hanky!

I ordered this DVD version from Amazon not realizing that it was dubbed. Amazon has taken steps to update the site. The Distribution for North America is completely dubbed in English and not a good dub at that. I did order from the UK the Original Russian/French version with English subtitles, Amazon thought my DVD Player would handle it, but the DVD Player alerted me that my TV was too old to play PAL. I did get it to play on my computer, but that defeats the whole purpose.

I saw the Original at SIFF, took my Brother and his wife to see it. We were all crying at the end. The Original is a 10, and I am also aware this is related to Orchestra from Japan. Still I rate the Original a 10, the English Dubbing a 6.

I received warm recommendations before going to see "Le concert" and, as a consequence, was prepared to like it.

I must admit that hearing one of my favourite classical pieces at the beginning induced a positive outlook; however, as I am rather critical, this would not have made up for a boring experience afterwards.

Yet the rest was delightful, and there was no moment left for fatigue or dissatisfaction. Those clichés criticized by some are still well understood in Eastern Europe; as to the exacerbated kitsch - it can be found today, with no difficulty, within the society I live in.

The plot may have seemed straightforward, but a whirlwind of colour, wonderful music, sadness and humour carried me swiftly to the end and to the applause of the audience in the cinema.

It may not be the best film I have seen, but it certainly possesses the "je ne sais quoi" that makes you want to see it again, that makes you feel different for having experienced it. And for this, I think "Le Concert" should be accepted and loved just as it is.

I thought I could sum up my feelings about Le Concert by using a simple analogy: this film is sort of like your best friend who has a good heart, but sometimes does and says the wrong things. You know your friend always means well, and sometimes even delights you with a special treat, and so you continue to love him/her. Like that well meaning friend, Le Concert has some technical flaws, and at times doesn't seem to make sense, but this film absolutely has a heart of gold. Just look past the little flaws and take it for what it is: a feel-good film that will have you smiling at the end. That's what friends are for.

In Moscow, the former conductor of the Bolshoi Orchestra Andrey Simonovich Filipov (Alexeï Guskov) is presently the janitor of the theater. Andrey felt in disgrace with the Communist Party thirty years ago for protecting the Jewish musicians and was no longer allowed to conduct an orchestra. One night, Andrey reads a just-received fax while cleaning the office of the Bolshoi's director Leonid Vinichenko (Valentin Teodosiu) and he hides the document. He learns that the Châtelet Theater in Paris has just invited the Bolshoi Orchestra to perform a concert in Paris within two weeks. Andrey shows the fax to his friend and musician Aleksandr 'Sasha' Abramovich Grosman (Dimitri Nazarov) that drives an ambulance and he decides to reunite fifty-five former musicians of Bolshoi to travel to Paris and perform The Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35, by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. He invites the Communist leader and former KGB Ivan Gavrilov (Valeri Barinov) to manage the orchestra and he requests the solo of the prominent musician Anne- Marie Jacquet (Mélanie Laurent) and to stay in Paris for three days.

When they arrive in Paris, Andrey meets Anne-Marie while the musicians wander in the city, partying and raising money. The unprofessionalism of the Russian musicians forces Anne-Marie to call off the concert; but Sasha convinces her to come to the theater. Meanwhile Andrey grieves the incident with the violinist Lea thirty years ago and hides a secret from Anne-Marie. What is the connection between Andrey and Anne-Marie?

"Le Concert" is a film not only for movie lovers, but mainly for music lovers. This dramatic comedy tells an adorable bitter-sweet story about losses and second chance in life through music, or better, the wonderful and awesome Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto.

The director Radu Mihaileanu, from "Train de Vie", once again plays with tragic situations, using a witty screenplay with charismatic characters and making laugh and cry out of joy. I have seen the sequence of the concert at least eight consecutive times, full of emotion and with tears in my eyes. This is one of the most beautiful and touching climax I have ever seen in a film.

The cast is fantastic and Mélanie Laurent is awesome, giving credibility to her violin solo during the presentation. Last but not the least, this film should have been at least nominated to the Oscar. My vote is ten.

Title (Brazil): "O Concerto" ("The Concert" – not available on DVD or Blu-Ray)

Note: On 10 August 2011, I saw this outstanding film again on DVD.

Mustering a motley crew of Russian musicians with rusty skills to perform at a top venue in Paris is a premise with plenty of comic potential – even if the idea that they can make beautiful music together at the drop of a hat is a bit far-fetched.

Still, if you can manage to suspend disbelief and go with the flow, it's easy enough to be swept away by the enthusiasm and energy of this unlikely ensemble.

Cultural differences between the unruly mob of Slavs and their more sophisticated French hosts play a large part in the humour, and director Radu Mihaileanu highlights the contrast by using fixed camera shots to illustrate Parisian elegance, while hand-held cameras follow the frenetic antics of the Russians.

The cast of characters include an elderly trombonist who insists that his asthma actually improves his playing, and a gypsy violinist who is particularly well-accomplished on the fiddle, with a sideline in arranging fake passports for orchestra members who need them in a hurry.

The character-generated humour works up to a point, occasionally treading a fine line between comic exaggeration and racial stereotyping. Scenes where the Russians speak in faltering French present a particular challenge in the sub-titling, as the comic touch runs the risk of becoming lost in translation.

The whole plan is orchestrated by Andrei Filipov, played by Alexei Guskov, a seasoned veteran of the East European movie scene, who gives an earnest and likable performance in the role, though he comes across as more of a straight man than a natural comedian.

Demoted from conductor to cleaner at the Bolshoi Theatre, he discovers that the Bolshoi Orchestra has been invited to play a concert in Paris, but keeps the news to himself and plans to take his own orchestra instead. There is further motivation for him to go to Paris in the form of virtuoso violinist Anne-Marie Jacquet, a woman whose talents he so admires that he keeps a secret stash of all her CD's and press clippings.

A trail of clues seems to suggest a father-daughter relationship, but this is something of a red herring, as the past connection between the pair is not quite so obvious.

Melanie Laurent, best known to an international audience for her role as Shosanna Dreyfuss in Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds, has a luminous screen presence as the virtuoso violinist who is haunted by the music of Tchaikovsky for reasons she cannot quite fathom.

Laurent, who is left-handed, learnt to play the violin for the part, a daunting task as the instrument cannot be converted and must be played right-handed. Bravo: her playing looks authentic enough and no-one can say she isn't prepared to suffer for her art.

While the challenge of playing a cool and self-controlled character appears to place constraints on her emotional range at times, she is finally able to give her feelings full expression in the climactic scene, when Jacquet faces her fears to perform Tchaikovsky's violin concerto for the first time.

The score combines original music by Armand Amar with the sublime harmonies of Tchaikovsky, a fine blend in keeping with the musical theme. Mihaileanu neatly ties up loose ends in the highly-charged final scene, interspersing highlights of the concert with flashbacks telling the fate of the Jewish musicians from three decades earlier, while flash forwards show the orchestra on a world tour following their success in Paris.

The message that reverberates through to the final chord is that people's lives can be transformed, at least temporarily, through the shared experience of music, which crosses barriers of language and culture to achieve harmony and perfection. The fine performances from the players in this concert may merit a round of applause, but the transcendental music of Tchaikovsky is the star.

Pure cliché...from the beginning to the end.

Not really a disappointment, being somewhat aware of Mihaileanu's obsessive religious egocentricity, but this one is really embarrassing on all levels, for those who have a clue of Eastern Europe, including Russia. Looks like being made for people who never went there, and/or who only want to visit the place (socially, culturally speaking) via the clichés one can build around it.

Mihaileanu manages to miss both funny and sad parts of the movie, by overloading both with clichés, giving the impression of assuming a completely uneducated public.

Music kind of saves the movie, but that's thanks to Tchaikovski and the interpreters of the movie's soundtrack (Budapest Symphony).