Alan Bennett’s new film The Choral, directed by Nicholas Hytner and starring Ralph Fiennes, has opened in UK cinemas to early reviews from critics.
The First World War drama reunites Alan Bennett and Nicholas Hytner, the team behind The History Boys, The Madness of King George and The Lady in the Van. It also gives Ralph Fiennes another major screen role ahead of his return to the London stage next year. The multi-award-winning actor recently appeared at Theatre Royal Bath in Grace Pervades and Small Hotel, with Grace Pervades transferring to London’s Theatre Royal Haymarket next year.
Nicholas Hytner continues to run London’s Bridge Theatre, whose next production is Into the Woods.
Most critics agree on the strength of Ralph Fiennes’s performance and the pleasure of seeing Alan Bennett and Nicholas Hytner back together, blending Bennett’s signature humour, with themes of grief and sexuality set against the backdrop of a Yorkshire choir taking on Elgar while the world falls apart.
The film was first announced in March 2024, with The Choral’s trailer released in August this year.
Watch the trailer for The Choral
Here’s what the critics are saying about The Choral.
The Telegraph – ★★★★
Robbie Collin in The Telegraph is full of praise, calling Fiennes “unassumingly tremendous” in a “wintry tale of art blooming in adversity”.
He positions The Choral as something that initially looks like a classic British underdog charmer – think Brassed Off or Billy Elliot – but turns out to be more wry and melancholic, with Bennett’s familiar mix of gallows humour and quiet heartbreak.
Collin highlights Fiennes’ Dr Henry Guthrie, a Yorkshire choirmaster viewed with suspicion for his atheism, bachelor status and time spent in Germany, as the emotional core of the film. A late, needling appearance from Simon Russell Beale as Edward Elgar wrong-foots any hope of a warm, feelgood ending, and Collin clearly approves of Bennett and Hytner refusing to round things off too neatly.
The Guardian – ★★★★
Over at The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw also goes for four stars, calling the film a “quiet and consistent pleasure”.
He praises Bennett’s decision to let Elgar’s music carry the big emotions, while the script keeps its feet on the ground with “wit, poignancy and common sense”. Bradshaw notes the film’s surprisingly frank approach to sex and desire under the surface of a genteel period setting, describing it as unsentimental but deeply felt.
For him, The Choral sits comfortably alongside other northern musical fables, even drawing comparisons with Victoria Wood’s That Day We Sang, with communal singing acting as a kind of salvation for a town living in the shadow of the trenches.
The Times – ★★★★
Kevin Maher in The Times declares “the dream team is back”, enjoying the reunion of Bennett and Hytner for what he calls a “sensitive exploration of the national character” against a backdrop of war, sex and Elgar.
Maher is especially taken with Ralph Fiennes’ performance as Guthrie – a man devoted to German culture and haunted by the fate of a former German lover – and with Roger Allam as Bernard Duxbury, a blustering mill owner whose love of singing becomes a way of coping with grief.
While he questions how dramatically punchy the extended Dream of Gerontius sequence is, Maher argues that the strength of the ensemble and Hytner’s direction ultimately land a powerful emotional payoff.
Financial Times – ★★★
Jonathan Romney in the Financial Times strikes a more measured, three-star note.
He describes The Choral as a classic ensemble piece: carefully arranged, with a broad sweep of tragicomic moments and a strong mix of stage stalwarts and younger actors. Fiennes, he says, is “typically good” as a careworn choirmaster who believes in art as a redemptive force.
Romney, though, feels the film is “very trad” and visually muted, suggesting Hytner’s tasteful, dusty period style smooths away some of the sharper edges of Bennett’s anger about class and the folly of war. The result, for him, is a film that’s “perfectly tuned, but never soars”.
Daily Mail – ★★
The harshest review comes from the Daily Mail, where Brian Viner gives the film just two stars.
He welcomes the idea of a brand-new Bennett screenplay at 91, and admires the “tip-top cast” – including Ralph Fiennes, Roger Allam, Simon Russell Beale, Alun Armstrong and Mark Addy – but feels the script is “second-rate Bennett and second-rate Hytner”.
For Viner, The Choral tries to be too many things at once – comedy, weepie, history lesson, social commentary – and never quite convinces as a story. He also complains about an excess of set-piece speeches and argues that when Bennett’s one-liners misfire, they land with a thud rather than a sparkle.
The Choral is now playing in UK cinemas.
Ralph Fiennes stars in David Hare’s new play Grace Pervades at the Theatre Royal Haymarket from 24 April 2026, with tickets now on sale.
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