Film festivals London Film Festival 2025

The Choral

London Film Festival 2025: The Choral | Review

Directed by Nicholas Hytner, The Choral is a tender comedy-drama that gently emphasises the power of music. The film follows members of a choral society in 1916 Yorkshire who hire a new chorus master, Dr Henry Guthrie (Ralph Fiennes), after their former leader enlists in the First World War. Guthrie, a gay man who recently returned from living in Germany, isn’t shy in his adoration for the country; freely speaking the German language, quoting Goethe and monitoring the papers for any news of his German lover. He is much more interested in artistic expression than nationalism, and naturally, his appointment is controversial. However, his forthright approach and abiding respect and devotion to choral music come to be received with admiration. With Guthrie at the helm, the choir decide to perform and orchestrate a reinterpretation of Edward Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, interpolating elements of the war into the narrative of the work.

By focusing on a choral society, the film presents a different take on wartime. Whilst it does acknowledge the sadness of the ongoing conflict, the film, through its practicality and light humour, offers a hopeful interlude. The existence and incentive of the choir highlights that life has continued in the midst of the chaos, uncertainty and loss caused by the war, and regardless of their age or personal perspectives on the war and conscription, the choir are unified in their shared love of choral music and the spiritual depth and passion it creates.

At the heart of The Choral is the performance of Fiennes. He is, as always, first-class, and when on screen, he succeeds in elevating the film from a slightly lacklustre Sunday afternoon TV movie to something much more compelling. He portrays Guthrie with a subtle complexity, and there is a palpable touch of quality to his performance, allowing the audience to discern his character’s emotions and motivations from the sincerity of his expressions.

The supporting cast of Roger Allam, Mark Addy, Alun Armstrong and Simon Russell Beale submit enjoyable performances and add a dry delivery to the humorous aspects of the script in a way that can only be characterised as “British”. However, the film is overwhelmed by a cast that is too large. As such, none receive the proper exploration to generate an emotional connection within the viewer, and you can’t help but wish that some of the storylines focusing on the younger characters could’ve instead been used to flesh out the older cast, particularly the characters of Fiennes and Allam. Moreover, the choir’s eventual rendition of Gerontius is the climax of the movie and results in a scene that is moving, poignant and a wonderful tribute to the beauty of the music. After that point, the rest of the feature shuffles along, making it difficult to maintain the emotion elicited from the performance.

Despite some shortcomings, The Choral is a pleasing enough wartime tale, strengthened by an impressive Fiennes.

Sunny Morgan

The Choral is released on 7th November 2025.

Read more reviews from our London Film Festival coverage here.

For further information about the event, visit the London Film Festival website here.

Watch the trailer for The Choral here:

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