21/05/2024 - CANNES 2024: Two unlikely brothers bond over music, laughter and tears in an archetypal French feel-good story helmed by Emmanuel Courcol

Pierre Lottin (left) and Benjamin Lavernhe in The Marching Band

Screening in the Cannes Première section of the 77th Cannes International Film Festival, The Marching Band [+see also:
trailer
interview: Emmanuel Courcol
film profile] is the third fiction feature by actor-writer-director Emmanuel Courcol. The story revolves around two brothers, and even more around music, a language as strong as you can get when it comes to bringing people together, no matter how different they may seem.

Indeed, Thibaut (Benjamin Lavernhe) and Jimmy (Pierre Lottin) could hardly be more unalike, at least at first glance. Our first encounter with Thibaut finds him in his most natural of habitats – the podium of an internationally acclaimed music conductor. As he sensitively, passionately and brilliantly leads his symphony orchestra through a rehearsal, he suddenly falls down. A cut to a doctor’s office discloses a serious condition that requires bone marrow from a close relative, the most immediate being Thibaut’s younger sister. But not only is she incompatible, the two aren’t even biologically related, the DNA molecules reveal.

And so, the truth unravels: Thibaut was adopted, and he also has a brother. Enter Jimmy, a cocky, laddish canteen employee living in Lille, a working-class area of Northern France. Jimmy initially receives the news of his brother, “Mr Posho”, with staunch denial, but eventually agrees to donate. The transplant is successful, and that should be that. But when the trumpet of Clifford Brown is heard, the two find their common ground, on a fully equal and democratic level at that, and a firm, unbreakable bond is forever in place.

Jimmy’s instrument is actually the trombone, as part of the local marching band, which is currently about to lose its conductor. And, as befits the warm and cosy feel-good category that every inch of The Marching Band belongs to, the baton is picked up by Thibaut. A measure of chaos ensues, given the vast discrepancy between Thibaut’s usual collaborators and the motley crew currently on hand, all played for good laughs, both on and in front of the screen.

A tear or 12 might also be shed (we dare you not to) as Thibault’s medical condition again gets worse, with dire future prospects. It's all part of the tried, tested and archetypal formula, but is admirably executed and acted – Brassed Off, Untouchable [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and Ken Loach in a comedy register are all valid comparisons, as is the cinema of Robert Guédiguian, whose production company is indeed behind this film. Ensconced in the middle of a festival programme dealing with body-horror mutilation, gender reassignment gangsters and the emergence of Donald Trump, The Marching Band serves as the perfect palate cleanser.

The Marching Band was produced by France’s Agat Films & Cie with co-production by France 2 Cinéma. Its international sales are overseen by Playtime.

Photogallery 20/05/2024: Cannes 2024 - The Marching Band

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Emmanuel Courcol
© 2024 Fabrizio de Gennaro for Cineuropa - fadege.it, @fadege.it