In Emmanuel Courcol’s En fanfare (titled The Marching Band internationally), music becomes both a bridge and a battleground for two estranged brothers navigating the dissonant chords of fate, class, and identity. Set against the fading industrial landscapes of northern France, this poignant dramedy—premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival—transcends its familial narrative to interrogate the societal structures that shape our lives. With standout performances by Benjamin Lavernhe and Pierre Lottin, the film harmonizes humor and heartache, offering a resonant meditation on privilege, legacy, and the redemptive power of art.

A Tale of Two Brothers: Discord and Harmony

The story pivots on Thibaut Desormeaux (Lavernhe), a world-renowned conductor diagnosed with leukemia, who discovers he was adopted and has a biological brother, Jimmy (Lottin)—a cafeteria worker and amateur trombonist in a struggling miners’ brass band. Their reunion, necessitated by Thibaut’s need for a bone marrow transplant, lays bare the chasm between their lives: Thibaut, groomed in privilege and classical refinement; Jimmy, tethered to a fading industrial town where the local factory’s closure looms like a funeral dirge. Courcol avoids simplistic contrasts, instead weaving their differences into a nuanced exploration of how environment dictates destiny. A haunting question lingers: Had their upbringings been swapped, would Thibaut’s genius have flourished in a mining town, or Jimmy’s raw talent withered under elite pressures?

The film’s emotional core lies in their tentative rapport. Thibaut, initially condescending yet guilt-ridden, seeks redemption by mentoring Jimmy’s band—a ragtag ensemble of retirees and factory workers—for a national competition. Jimmy, bristling with defensive pride, resists his brother’s patronage, mirroring the broader tension between artistic idealism and working-class pragmatism. Their dynamic crescendos in a climactic performance of Ravel’s Boléro, a piece whose repetitive structure mirrors the cyclical struggles of Jimmy’s community.

Brass Bands and Class Consciousness: Music as Social Mirror

En fanfare elevates the brass band from backdrop to metaphor. These ensembles, deeply rooted in northern France’s industrial heritage, symbolize communal resilience amid decline. Courcol collaborates with real-life amateur musicians from the Harmonie Municipale des Mineurs de Lallaing, infusing scenes with authenticity: calloused hands grip tarnished instruments, and off-key rehearsals echo in union halls slated for demolition. The band’s frayed dignity becomes a microcosm of post-industrial Europe, where tradition collides with obsolescence.

Music here is both divider and unifier. Thibaut’s polished symphonies, performed in opulent concert halls, contrast with the miners’ boisterous parades—a dichotomy reflecting France’s cultural stratification. Yet, as Thibaut conducts the band, his rigid formalism softens into improvisational joy, suggesting that artistry transcends class when stripped of pretense. The film’s soundtrack, blending classical motifs with folk melodies, underscores this synthesis, culminating in a finale where Boléro’s grandeur is reimagined through brass rawness—a triumph of collective spirit over individual virtuosity.

Northern France: A Character in Decay

The setting—a region scarred by shuttered factories and dwindling hope—anchors the narrative. Cinematographer Maxence Lemonnier frames the landscape in desaturated grays: abandoned coal pits, rain-slicked streets, and cramped row houses where lace curtains flutter like surrender flags. Yet beauty persists in unexpected corners: a sunlit meadow where the band practices, or a pub where off-duty miners harmonize over pints. These juxtapositions evoke the region’s stoic charm, resisting clichéd depictions of “rust belt” despair.

Courcol also nods to local gastronomy—thick carbonnade stews shared during band suppers, or buttery tarte au sucre devoured at street fairs—using food to underscore communal bonds. Even Jimmy’s cafeteria job, serving hearty steak-frites to weary workers, becomes a quiet act of sustenance and solidarity.

Performances: Precision and Vulnerability

Lavernhe and Lottin deliver career-defining performances. Lavernhe’s Thibaut is a masterpiece of controlled fragility: his conductor’s poise cracks in private moments, revealing a man haunted by impostor syndrome. When he confronts his adoptive mother (a steely Anne Loiret) about his origins, his rage dissolves into childlike helplessness—a raw admission that privilege cannot insulate against existential dread.

Lottin, meanwhile, embodies Jimmy’s defensive swagger and latent tenderness. His eyes flicker with resentment during Thibaut’s patronizing overtures, yet soften when teaching a young bandmate to read music. In a standout scene, Jimmy drunkenly serenades his ex-wife with a faltering trombone solo, his bravado crumbling into vulnerability—a moment that encapsulates the film’s blend of pathos and humor.

Courcol’s Direction: Balancing Light and Shadow

Courcol, known for The Big Hit and The Speech, masterfully tempers weighty themes with levity. A disastrous band rehearsal—where a sousaphone player’s flatulence upstages Mozart—elicits guffaws, while Thibaut’s fish-out-of-water attempts to navigate a working-class pub (ordering a Bordeaux in a bière pression crowd) highlight cultural divides without caricature. The director’s background in theater shines in tightly choreographed ensemble scenes, particularly the competition finale, where shaky camerawork and diegetic sound amplify the chaos and catharsis of live performance.

Legacy and Resonance

En fanfare joins a lineage of French films exploring class and identity—Jacques Audiard’s The Beat That My Heart Skipped or the Dardenne brothers’ gritty realism—yet distinguishes itself through musical metaphor and regional specificity. Its release during Europe’s ongoing deindustrialization lends urgency to its themes: What becomes of communities when their economic pillars crumble? Can art forge new identities from old wounds?

While the film occasionally veers into sentimentality (a subplot involving Jimmy’s budding romance feels undercooked), its triumphs outweigh missteps. By its final frame—a wordless exchange between the brothers, their shared glance acknowledging unhealed rifts and tentative hope—En fanfare achieves a rare harmony: a story both intimately personal and expansively universal.