The Choral reunites director Nicholas Hytner with national treasure Alan Bennett, after their 2015 film, The Old Lady and the Van, and three episodes of the 2020 Talking Heads revival, An Ordinary Woman, Bed Among The Lentils, and The Shrine.
It’s 1916, World War I is in full flow, and Lofty’s (Oliver Briscombe) delivering death notes door-to-door, with friend Ellis (Taylor Uttley) in tow, while Fyton (Mark Addy – The Full Monty) is having to look for a new Choral master and their pianist has signed up for the frontline.
Henry Guthrie (Ralph Fiennes – 28 Years Later) is the best man for the job, yet much to the chagrin of Alderman Bernard Duxbury (Roger Allam – Tetris), frustrated that he’s a German, given that this film takes place during the first World War.
Along the way, Henry’s a hard taskmaster, demanding of his singers, and when deciding which composer to cover for their forthcoming event, they realise so many of them were born in Germany, thus having to rule them out, eventually settling on Edward Elgar’s The Dream Of Gerontius, yet Elgar, himself – played by Simon Russell Beale (Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale) – turns up and isn’t impressed about various changes they’ve made, leading to Beale stealing the entire scene.
However, The Choral was made to look like a great comedy, but the jokes in the trailer fall a bit flat in the film, and it comes across more of a drama, anyway, given how it’s dealing with the great loss of life from the war, making the whole thing feel very uneven.
There’s an inadvertently amusing moment when one soldier returns from the war, but has lost an arm, complaining that he can’t… y’know, as his remaining hand gets tired. I once broke my right arm, and you soon learn to use your left…. for wiping your bum, of course!
And a couple of asides. I noted the film is a 12A-certificate, yet contains six f-words. I understood the limit was four, unless the BBFC have changed things? Their website isn’t clear. It states: “There may be moderate bad language. Strong language may be permitted, depending on context and frequency within the content as a whole.” An f-word is “strong language”, but it’s just thrown in occasionally, and never in a direct threatening way, for example, so the more frequent use is probably allowed because of that. Had it been one person telling another, repeatedly and loudly, to “fuck off“, it might be a different matter.
Additionally, this is yet another film shot in 2.00:1 and destined for the cinema, but the problem is – as I’ve stated many times – most cinema screens are 2.39:1, yet for a film of 2.00:1, it’s treated as a 1.85:1 movie, so with black bars top and bottom – as well as at the sides – the picture is effectively floating in the middle of the screen, and looks ridiculous. And still, modern cinemas do nothing to address this!
NOTE: There are no mid- nor post-credits scenes.
The Choral is in cinemas now, and is available to buy on Blu-ray and DVD.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 113 minutes
Release date: November 7th 2025
Studio: Sony Pictures Releasing UK
Aspect ratio: 2.00:1
Cinema: Odeon Trafford Centre
Rating: 5/10
Director: Nicholas Hytner
Producers: Nicholas Hytner, Damian Jones, Kevin Loader
Screenplay: Alan Bennett
Music: George Fenton
Cast:
Henry Guthrie: Ralph Fiennes
Alderman Bernard Duxbury: Roger Allam
Mr Fyton: Mark Addy
Mr Trickett: Alun Armstrong
Ellis: Taylor Uttley
Lofty: Oliver Briscombe
Edward Elgar: Simon Russell Beale
Robert Horner: Robert Emms
Mrs Bishop: Lyndsey Marshal
Bella: Emily Fairn
Clyde: Jacob Dudman
Mitch: Shaun Thomas
Miss Niner: Tamzin Griffin
Mrs Pemberton: Angela Curran
Black Bright: Reuben Bainbridge
Mary: Amara Okereke
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.