Algeria-born, France-based director

Rachid Hami's inspirational-teacher

drama stars 'Welcome to the Sticks'
actor Kad Merad in an unusually
serious role as the violin teacher of a
class of misfits.
A sullen French-Algerian violinist tries to tame a rowdy Parisian class of
immigrant and second-generation immigrant kids so he can teach them how
to play the fiddle in La Melodie. For those who have seen Sergio Machado’s
2015 title The Violin Teacher, shot in the shantytowns of Sao Paulo, or,
before that, Wes Craven’s East Harlem-set Music of the Heart with Meryl
Streep, this will be an all-too-familiar tale — except that it’s now in French.
Indeed, for much of the film’s running time, actor-turned-director Rachid Hami
doesn’t seem interested in reinventing the wheel of the inspiring-music-
teacher genre, which makes this unfussily assembled feature the cinematic
equivalent of a pretty comfortable but also rather everyday sweater.
After a slot as an Out of Competition title in Venice, this accessible if
dramatically a little flat crowd-pleaser should do mid-range business in
France, where it opens in November. The presence of Welcome to the
Sticks comedian Kad Merad, somewhat cast against type here in a more
serious role, is an added marketing bonus and could give it a leg up in France
and selected European territories, at least on opening weekend.

The withdrawn and stoop-shouldered Simon Daoud (Merad) arrives on the

first day of school a little intimidated. When he’s introduced by teacher Farid
(Samir Guesmi) to his class of rowdy and trash-talking gang of 12-year-olds
who’ve never played an instrument before, you can practically hear his heart
fall out of his chest from pure desperation. A concert violinist by trade, Simon
has no teaching experience, so he needs to force himself to tackle this new
challenge. But when, to break the ice, he asks which classical composers the
kids know and the answers that come back are “Mozart,” “Wolfgang Amadeus
Beethoven” and “Celine Dion,” he knows it’s going to be an uphill battle.

Clearly, Daoud, who’s half Breton, half Algerian, has never seen a movie like
the one he’s starring in, as what follows is entirely predictable. Kids fight,
struggle, temporarily quit or have parents that aren’t on board with their
musical ambitions. But then — spoiler alert if you’ve also never seen an
inspiring-teacher movie — some serious practice sessions and bonding will
lead them to excel at an important concert that’ll serve as the film’s rousing
finale. Daoud also struggles, not only with his very necessary job but also with
his private life, as he’s divorced and has a difficult relationship with his
teenage daughter. To complicate matters even further, halfway through the
school year he’s offered the position of second violin in a quatuor that’s about
to embark on a concert tour. But accepting that role would mean leaving his
struggling class behind. No points for guessing what his decision will turn out
to be.

The screenplay was written by Guy Laurent, Valerie Zenatti and the director,
and they seem content to follow the subgenre’s standard template with only
minor variations. Simon takes a special interest in the most gifted of the
pupils, Arnold (Renely Alfred), for example, a shy and chubby kid of African
heritage whose mother (Tatjana Rojo) invites the violin teacher over for dinner
one evening. In one of the few moments he does something unexpected,
Hami refuses to turn this into a potential love story for the two single adults.
But what the film has come up with instead, a sappy subplot about the absent
father the jealous Arnold never knew, is underdeveloped and then never
really resolved.

The feature’s most transporting moments, and they are few, are the ones that
feel at least semi-improvised, like when the kids fight during a rehearsal on a
snow-covered rooftop overlooking Paris or at a pizza joint, where they gently
rib each other over their supposed love interests and sexual experiences.
These scenes feel more realistic and bring to mind a younger version of a film
like Cantet’s Cannes-winning The Class. The natural, partially nonsensical
dialogue is key in giving these moments their flavor and also point back to the
work of Blue Is the Warmest Color helmer Abdellatif Kechiche, who gave
Hami his first role as an actor in his second feature, Games of Love and
Chance. Like both those directors, Hami doesn't turn his multicultural cast into
a talking point, secure in their knowledge that this is simply what France looks
like. But the film's few, more lived-in moments often involve secondary
characters with no story arc of their own, so they never feel properly
integrated into the fabric of the otherwise very formatted plot.

Merad, who looks more severe than ever with his fully shaved head and wire-
rimmed glasses, delivers an almost dour turn as the teacher with an eternally
downward-cast glance. Even when he’s playing the violin, he never seems
really transported by the music. The kids are louder and more energetic and
give the film some much-needed fizz on its way to the third-act concert —
shot at the Philharmonie de Paris, also a co-producer — that feels so
unsurprising it’s hard to feel the pic has really earned that standing ovation at
the end. That said, newcomer Alfred is a soulful discovery whose occasionally
tear-streaked face is one of the few things that feels genuine about this
otherwise largely by-the-numbers production.