The Marching Band

“Thibaut” (Benjamin Lavernhe) is an accomplished conductor who is now based in the USA but who comes home to France now and again to perform. It’s during one such visit that he confides to his sister “Rose” (Mathilde Courcol-Rozés) that he needs a bone-marrow transplant. She readily agrees to help out but when she is found to be incompatible, that news opens quite a can of worms that results in him having to ask “Jimmy” (Pierre Lottin) - a brother he didn’t know he had and who lives in a quietly dying town where his workplace is earmarked for closure, to help out. Initially uninterested and disbelieving, the film now illustrates just how the two men come to terms with their past, their present and (hopefully) their future against a backdrop of resentment and privilege as they try to reconcile with the elements of “luck of the draw” that have governed their lives thus far. Fortunately, they have one thing in common. They both love music, and as it transpires that “Jimmy” plays trombone in his local mineworkers band we have a conduit for them to bond - or not! There are shades of “Brassed Off” (1996) as this offers us a social commentary on the decline of traditional rural industries that leave little by way of hope or opportunity in it’s wake; a little bit of romance and some seriously horrible uniforms too! Along the way, there is also some fine classical Mozart, some crooning from Charles Aznavour and some enjoyable band rehearsals with an eclectic collection of the townsfolk proving remarkably talented with instrument and voice alike - after a soupçon of guidance. No, there probably isn’t so much jeopardy about the denouement, though there is a twist - it’s really a story about family and one that’s presented without too much sentiment and a bit of enjoyably bloody-minded Gallic humour. I was never quite sure what an orchestral conductor actually did, standing there flailing his baton at a collection of perfectly proficient musicians, but this might just have helped explain a little - and that seating matters too!