The Concert

Synopsis: Thirty years ago, Andrei Simoniovich Filipov (Alexsei Guskov), the renowned conductor of the Bolshoi Orchestra was fired for harbouring Jewish musicians. Now a janitor at the Bolshoi, he learns opportunely that the Châtelet Theater in Paris has invited the Bolshoi Orchestra to play. He decides to gather together his former musicians and to perform in Paris in the place of the legitimate orchestra.

As they say, what’s not to like about The Concert? It is a feel-good movie for the art-house crowd that builds to a rousing rendition of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D major, and along the way takes good-natured pot-shots at old school Communists, Yiddish entrepreneurialism and Russian gangstas. Mihaileanu, who had considerable success with Live And Become (2005), a film about personal and cultural identity and the immigrant experience, here goes for a more broadly humorous approach without jettisoning a serious side which becomes evident in the latter part of the film and is tellingly combined with Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto in a tear-jerking finale.

Despite being a heart-felt blow against Soviet totalitarianism (the Romanian-born Mihaileanu fled his homeland during the Ceausescu years) The Concert is a comedy and from the get-go Mihaileanu keeps the tone light and the pace lively.  Although the characters are largely stereotypical (some may object to the rather odd depiction of Jews as chronic opportunists, but that’s another matter), there is a quite strong atmosphere of believability to the scenario (apparently Soviet Union leader Leonid Brezhnev did force Bolshoi conductor Evgeny Svetlanov out for refusing to get rid of Jewish musicians in the orchestra during the early ’60s) and a good percentage of the entertainment comes from the film’s depiction of everyday life in free market Russia.

Small wonder that Mihaileanu is now based in Paris. The Concert has all the style and charm we associate with French art-house films. With a winning script, excellent performances all round, notably from Valeriy Barinov as the tour manager with a hidden agenda, Alexsei  Guskov as the guilt-wracked conductor, Dmitri Nazarov as his right-hand man and Mélanie Laurent as the winsome violinist he wants to headline his longed-for performance. For my taste we could have been spared the closing montage as it is not only an over-familiar device, it is in no way essential to the main story. By this time in the film however the cachet of good-will engendered is so large that no-one is likely to take particular issue with it.

Although by no means a groundbreaking film, The Concert is irresistibly entertaining and no doubt will go straight onto many people’s “favourite films of 2010” lists.

FYI: Jascha Heifetz played the same concerto in They Shall Have Music (d.Archie Mayo, 1939)

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