Stephen Williams’ American biographical period drama Chevalier tells the story of Joseph Bologne, the titular Chevalier de Saint-Georges, a magnificent violinist, and a biracial maestro in a France not yet accepting of the ‘mulatto.’ It follows Bologne (Kelvin Harrison Jr) as he acquires repute and fame for his musical prowess, gains and then loses the favour of Marie-Antoinette (Lucy Boynton), the Queen of France, and battles for the director’s position for the Paris Opera, which is eventually unready to listen to a Black man. Interwoven with this is a bittersweet but clearly ill-fated love with Marie-Josephine (Samara Weaving), the married Marquise of Montalembert, and the beginnings of the French Revolution that was to send up the French monarchy in flames.
Chevalier (English)
The setting of the period drama, as behoves one of its nature, is lush and the costuming is gorgeous. The filming has decidedly not strayed from France, perhaps to Europe at the very most. This serves the movie well, centring it in space and time from the get-go with recognisable visual elements.
