Surmounting the not considerable obstacle that French pop music makes John Denver sound like AC/DC, this Christmas crowdpleaser breathes new life into the girl-becomes-woman genre. That's thanks, in large part, to a dazzlingly charismatic performance by 17-year-old Emera, well known in France as a semifinalist star of a reality TV singing show called The Voice.
She plays the put-upon Paula, the teenage daughter of a dairy-farming family whose other three members " father Rodolphe (Damiens), mother Gigi (Viard) and kid brother Quentin (Gelberg) - are all profoundly deaf. For her, the burdens of adolescence are made heavier by family duties such as making phone calls to feed suppliers and cheese-buyers or interpreting for her parents' medical consultations.
Prompted to join the school choir largely by the presence of hunky Parisian Gabriel (Bergala), she displays enough ability to attract the attention of the jaded choirmaster (Elmosnino) setting in motion a storyline that will pose a direct challenge to the bonds between Paul and the title's family.
It's a predictable enough story arc but the busy screenplay has enough pace and fizz to avoid the obvious: director Lartigau (07 rom-com I Do and the Romain Duris thriller The Big Picture four years later) has a sure feel for his actors. The hormone-drenched kids; the comically acerbic but inspirational music teacher; the realities of small-town life; are all observed with great affection. A subplot in which Rodolphe challenges for the mayoralty is a misstep, not least because it's unresolved and Viard, who seems to think she is acting in a silent movie, is a bit over-the-top. But the climactic scene of a Michel Sardou song - a sort of French equivalent to the Lennon-McCartney masterpiece She's Leaving Home is lent some real emotional heft by an inspired touch that should not be disclosed here. It's a touching ending to an impressively handled if conventional comedy-drama. Get in now before the Americans remake it.
