"The Concert" symphony

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"The Concert" symphony

Writer: Nur Safina Othman

Interview conducted on 16 March 2010 at Cinema Europa GV VivoCity in Singapore for the premiere of "The Concert".

After the successful "Train Of Life" (1998) at the Venice Film Festival and "Live And Become" (2005) for which he won the coveted Mel Hoppenheim Prix du Public from Montreal's annual Cinemania film fest and also Best Screenplay at the Cesars that year, the Romanian-born French director Radu Mihaileanu returns with a musical comedy, "The Concert". The film which was up for six nominations at the 35th Cesar Awards 2010 in February proudly bagged the award for Best Soundtrack and Best Music Written for a Film. "The Concert" focuses on Andrei Filipov (Alexei Guskov), who was the greatest conductor of the famous Bolshoi Orchestra but was fired because he refused to remove the Jewish musicians in the orchestra. Thirty years later, he still works at the Bolshoi as a janitor and he stumbles upon an invitation for the Orchestra to play in Paris. However he decides to gather up his old musician friends and pretend to be the Bolshoi!

Radu Mihaileanu

Where did the idea for this movie come about?
There were reports that surfaced regarding a fake Bolshoi orchestra that went to Hong Kong. Then we receive a story written by Hector Cabello Reyes and Theirry Degrandi, but I decided to keep only one sentence which is "fake orchestra from Bolshoi went to Paris" as the original synopsis was "really bad". From there, I went to Moscow with my friend Alain-Michel Blanc to meet people and interview them to gain more inspiration.

Who helped you write the dialog because the French language was very different at that time?
I had a lot of help from the French speaking KGB agents. I came from Romania but graduated in Paris. I also learnt French through the 19th century French writer Honoré de Balzac.

What was the significance of Tchaikovsky's music in the movie?
When I was writing the last scene, I was looking for a Russian composer who would translate the final act that is able to represent extreme feelings at the end. I would listen to many composers' songs that I knew of when I was a child and I finally listened to Tchaikovsky. There were 2 elements that I liked: One was the crescendo of the orchestra that we are human and the other was the energy, sadness, and nostalgia of the violin. The combination of the two is the emblem of the film. There's a mixture between humour and drama of the sounds.

The cast in Moscow.

Mihaileanu: "I love chaos in general"

What's the message behind this film?
The movie focuses mainly on how human beings shouldn't be bogged down by life's challenges and that we can always overcome our struggles.

Did the Russian actors speak French or were they dubbed?
The Russian actors didn't speak a word of French except for Sacha (played by Dmitri Nazarov).

Mihaileanu during "The Concert" preview in Cinema Europa GV VivoCity.

How were they cast?
I don't know many Russian actors. There was a casting organised with the Russian and French casters. In the end, 20 actors were shortlisted, where I had to fly to Moscow to rehearse with them myself. Every one of them said they are the greatest stars, and I knew someone was lying somehow (laughs). The three main stars of this movie are most famous in Russia as confirmed by an intellectual lady that hosted me, and the team confirmed to us that Aleksis Guskov, Dmitri Nazarov, and Valeriy Barinov were the ones to cast.

Why did you decide to have people killing each other during a wedding ceremony?
This brings madness and reality of Europe where the wedding finishes like that (laughs). You can realise that I myself am not normal and I find it funny that a wedding can go wrong like that. I love chaos in general. And I think that the Western world is sleeping because there is no place for chaos and originality. Maybe I'm very simplistic and pretentious but I think that people want a square relationship without any problems - some madness could be nice (laughs).

"The Concert" opens in Singapore on 25 March 2010!

Cinema Online, 25 March 2010