Christophe Barratier’s debut feature-length film LES CHORISTES (The Chorus) was the cinematic box-office king of 2003 in France with over 10 million admissions sold–-outdrawing even Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings.

Barratier’s simple story of a modest schoolteacher, Clement Mathieu, played by Gerard Jugnot (Monsieur Batignole) who uses choral singing as a way to give purpose and hope to a classroom of Auvergnat adolescents struggling with life in the aftermath of the Second World War is uplifting without succumbing to sappiness.

We met in San Francisco during a recent press tour to promote the film.

TG: How has music influenced your life?
CB: I was born into family of actors that was dedicated to the cinema. My two parents were actors, my grandfather was an actor, and my uncle Jacques Perrin was an actor and producer. My parents were divorced when I was very young and being very busy with their careers I was raised by my grandmother. I was very shy, very lonely and not difficult but lazy and depressed. And one day my grandmother asked “ Why don’t you take up music; it might be good for you.” I was only seven. I entered a music school for small children and the first course I took was the guitar. The teacher was not a great musician but just like Mathieu Clement in my film he was a great teacher. He also sang very well and he taught me everything; how to play the guitar very well, how to sing, how to read and write music. When I was ten he told my grandmother that: “I’ve done all I can for him. He must go to Paris and study.” Music was my refuge, my lifesaver.

TG: Was there a teacher like Mathieu in your life?
CB: There were two. The first who was very much like Mathieu and after when I attended L’Ecole Superieure de Music de Paris I had a teacher who was a very important influence in my life, He was great master named Javier Quevedo. I admired him very much. Since I was very young, I’ve forgotten that first teacher’s name just like Morhange at the beginning of my film.

TG: Your film is set in and steeped in the atmosphere of the après-guerre (post-World War II.) What did you know about that period when making Les Choristes?
CB: I knew some history from my culture and from films. It was a dark period in French history, economically depressed, very difficult for children and I found it to be an ideal time to dramatize. So I chose to set my film in 1949.

TG: Please describe the process of casting the children, all of whom were non-actors?
CB: Once I had selected a location, in this case the Auvergne, I asked my casting director to visit all of the schools and patrol the hallways looking for children who had never acted before. I wanted faces that had character, not too cute, so that no matter where the camera focused the audience would be drawn to that child’s face. We chose from three thousand kids. I personally saw seven hundred. But for the main role of Morhange (the Soprano) it was very important that he have a good singing voice. I visited numerous choirs to the point of desperation until just three months before we began shooting I found young Jean-Baptiste Maunier in a Boy’s Choir in Lyon. He was “formidable’’-face

TG: Very often America films about children and teachers tend to be come treacly and sappy yet you managed to avoid those pitfalls without sacrificing tenderness and optimism.
CB: I was very conscious of that during the filming, and I would often sayz 'ooh-la-la, this is getting too emotional; I must stop it now.' I always had my finger on the off/on switch and I’d inject humor when it got too sentimental. I was very much admire the Italian film comedies of the sixties and seventies with Alberto Sordi; films like Ettore Scola’s “We All Loved Each Other So Very Much. ” They were both funny and moving. Gerard Jugnot had those qualities. He was equally adept at comedy and tragedy. I adore those films that make you laugh and cry-c’est la vie! One of my greatest cinematic memories from the age of seven or eight was (Milos) Forman’s One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. It was the moment when I discovered how powerful film could be.

TG: Which French filmmakers influenced you and your work?
CB: I’m of the generation (née 1964) who were not influenced by the nouvelle vague. I know that outside of France people love to talk about Godard and Truffaut. My favorites represent three distinct styles: Sacha Guitry, Henri Georges-Clouzot and Julien Duvivier. They were far more influential than Godard. Films about character and dialogue rather than those that relied on dogma meant the most to me.

TG: Gerard Jugnot has said that he felt sad at leaving the children after the shooting wrapped. Did you have similar feelings?
CB: Certainly. Over 10 million people in France alone have seen the film. They (the children) had an unforgettable experience. Most of these children came from provincial working class families. They are recognized in the street. They carry the self-respect that comes from doing a good job. For many it changed their point of view about life.

TG: Have their expectations of life changed? Do they have new inspirations?
CB: I don’t think they’ll go to Paris to become actors but the important thing is that it was revealed to them that another way of life exists-they don’t have to resign themselves to the same life as their parents. Now there is only work, the family and the “telly.” Now they know that work, like on this film, can be fun. One can get paid and have fun. To stay in contact I’ve created L’Association des Choristes and four times a year we get together for dinner and a film.

TG: Who is Carole?
CB:Ah, you saw the credits. She was my girlfriend for a long time. She shared my life. She was my first audience for Les Choristes. She was like my muse. She had wonderful instincts, and she’d critique scenes for me. And she appears in the film as The Countess.

Les Choristes opens nationwide (US) on Jan 28