Teacher(s): father and son, united by classical music and facing each other for glory

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Teacher(s) (France-Belgium/2022). Address: Bruno Chiche. Script: Bruno Chiche, Yaël Langmann, Cecilia Rouaud. Photography: Denis Rouden. Music: Florencia Di Concilio. Edition: Widy Marché. Cast: Yvan Attal, Pierre Arditi, Miou-Miou, Caroline Anglade, Pascale Arbillot, Nils Othenin-Girard, André Marcon, Caterina Murino. Duration: 92 minutes. Qualification: suitable for all audiences with legend. Distributor: Mirada Distribution. Our opinion: good.

Father and son, both orchestra conductors. One at the twilight of the profession, the other at the top. And an almost non-existent relationship that threatens to break completely when the same and only opportunity arrives for both.

Teacher(s)by the Frenchman Bruno Chiche, which arrives two years late to the local screen, is an adaptation quite free of Footer, that Israeli film that premiered here in 2012, after winning the Best Screenplay award at the Cannes Festival and earning an Oscar nomination. Although the twist that gives rise to the conflict is the same, the two films choose different paths, being Teacher(s) a friendlier and at the same time less interesting option than its source of inspiration.

The young and revolutionary conductor Denis Dumar (Yvan Attal) has just won the most important award of his career. He is applauded by an entire auditorium, which includes his girlfriend, his ex-wife, his son and his mother. The only thing missing is his father Francois (Pierre Arditi), who preferred to completely ignore the celebration.

The director also refuses to be forgotten, even when it is his heir who picks up his legacy. His mood changes completely when he receives a call inviting him to lead the La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra of Milan, his lifelong dream and the culmination of his career. Euphoric, he begins preparations for the trip, without knowing that the reality is different: the secretary responsible for the call made the wrong Dumar, the one they really want to hire is her son.

The details of this clash between two men, who reveal themselves as strangers to each other despite their filial relationship, will be the basis on which the story will rest throughout its length. There will be no second readings that aim beyond developing the connection of a complicated generational network, enhanced in this case by the presence of Mathieu (Nils Othenin-Girard), son of Denis and therefore grandson of Francois, and the different ways of seeing and face the life of each protagonist with his environment.

Teacher(s) It passes without stridency or greater difficulties than those already raised – apart from the consequent ramifications of each decision of the contenders within the family -, so it is to be expected that its development will be as placid as it is lacking in brightness or peaks of interest. However, that is where the soundtrack comes into play, providing the necessary push from the context so that what happened resonates more and better with the viewer.

Without the soundtrack that dresses it, enhances it and covers its plot holes, the film would be barely interesting, especially when its powerful predecessor is fresh in the memory. But the beauty of the music, and the director’s skill in using it, give the final result the necessary differential to not go unnoticed. An artistic decision that generates in the viewer some feelings similar to emotion, rare but always welcome.