From award-winning Writer/Director Emmanuel Courcol comes My Brother’s Band (also released as En fanfare or The Marching Band), a French take on the path well-trodden by English films such as Brassed Off and The Full Monty, though without the former’s depth or the latter’s full-throated comic appeal.
My Brother’s Band instead treads a middle ground, committing more to the resonances of personal relationships mediated through a love of music, whilst set against a background of socio-economic inequalities and the role chance plays in determining one’s opportunities in life.
The film opens with a spine-tingling orchestral practice session led by Thibaut (Benjamin Lavernhe), a renowned, globe-trotting conductor. Thibaut’s privileged world is shattered when he receives a diagnosis of leukemia requiring a bone marrow transplant. An unintended consequence of DNA testing uncovers both his adoption as a child and the existence of a brother, Jimmy (Pierre Lottin), who lives in a northern French town, Walincourt.
Jimmy’s life is modest and uncomplicated, working as a kitchen hand and playing in the local marching band, and the brothers, on the face of it, have little in common. Their initial interactions are awkward, if not prickly, but ease somewhat as Thibaut discovers his brother’s instinctive musical talent and resolves to foster it.
This setup is economically done – perhaps a little too much so – as we only get a glimpse of Thibaut’s back story. The circumstances of his adoption are a little confusing. Jimmy provides the bone marrow, we get a bit more back story, and within 20 minutes or so, the main game of the film’s screenplay – the brothers’ emotional journeys – is arrived at.
From there, the film traces a fairly predictable arc anchored by excellent performances particularly from Lavernhe, Lottin, and Sarah Suco as Sabrina, Jimmy’s band partner and prospective love interest.
My Brother’s Band has a good heart, but it is also slight. One gets the sense there’s a larger story in the editing room. At the same time Courcol’s direction is somewhat metronomic, so that it feels a wee bit longer than it is.
Much depends on the two leads, and Lavernhe is especially good. In a role that easily might have manifested as condescension, it’s largely through Lavernhe’s skill that this is avoided. He exudes compassion, understanding and warmth. And not a little musical talent.
As Jimmy, Lottin’s ice-blue eyes are always averted, rarely engaging anyone directly, underscoring Jimmy’s self-consciousness and lack of self-belief. Though I feel Lottin overplays this emotional inhibition.
Jimmy has the heart of a poet and is just as musically gifted as his brother; however, without the opportunities afforded to Thibaut, his obvious talent hasn’t been nurtured.
Courcol mines this personal disadvantage to comment more broadly on wealth and opportunity disparities in France, and the effect of industry closures on small towns. These issues, though, are always secondary to the personal and collective sustaining power of music.
And one thing Courcol gets absolutely right is the music. From the stirring orchestral arrangements to the jazz of Miles Davis and Charles Aznavour’s crooning, the film’s soundtrack provides both an emotional core and the narrative’s connective tissue. It’s truly wonderful.
Walincourt itself is populated with the typical cast of loveable characters all bonded by their shared joy of playing in the local band. The factories might be closing, but the band plays stoically and endearingly on.
The, let’s be fair, probably unlikely ending will have you moist-eyed even as you know you’re being shamelessly manipulated (which to this point Courcol has admirably eschewed). Film festival audiences everywhere have loved My Brother’s Band – it has won a number of Audience Awards – and you probably will too. Goodness knows we need a little love.
My Brother’s Band opens in cinemas nationally from 26 December 2025.
Tickets are on sale now!
Website: https://www.palacefilms.com.au/my-brothers-band
Socials: https://www.instagram.com/palacecinemas/
Hero image courtesy of Thibault Grabherr.
Watch the trailer here:
Film Details:
Title: My Brother’s Band
Director: Emmanuel Courcol
Cast: Benjamin Lavernhe, Pierre Lottin, Sarah Suco
Country of Origin: France
Rating: M
Duration: 103 mins
Showing at Cinemas around the country:
Sydney: Palace Central, Palace Norton Street, Palace Moore Park, Hayden Orpheum Cremorne, Roseville Cinemas, United Avalon Cinema, also screening at Gala Cinema Warrawong, Tower Cinemas Newcastle, and Westpac Open Air Cinema Sydney (Jan 24)
Melbourne: Palace Balwyn, Palace Brighton Bay, Cinema Como, Palace Westgarth, Palace Pentridge, Palace Penny Lane Cinema, Cinema Nova, The Kino, Cameo Cinemas Belgrave, and Palace Regent Cinema Ballarat
Adelaide: Palace Nova Eastend & Prospect
Brisbane: Palace Barracks & Palace James St Cinemas, Regal Cinema Graceville
Byron Bay: Palace Byron Bay
Canberra: Palace Electric
Perth: Palace Raine Square, Luna Leederville, Luna On SX, The Windsor
Hobart: State Cinema
