Stephen Williams’ 2022 film, Chevalier, tells the story of the titular Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Joseph Bologne. Played by Kelvin Harrison Jr., Joseph Bologne is a character of phenomenal background, rising as a biracial man to become a respected figure in the upper circles of very white, French society despite having started life as the son of a plantation owner and a Guadeloupean woman enslaved there. Visually and audibly the film is beautiful, with stunning vocal and instrumental arrangements set against the aristocratic society of 1700s France. Harrison’s musical performances throughout highlight his own skill and experience as he adapts into classical period music.
Despite the strong dedication that both leads showcased in their roles I found Chevalier to be a rather disappointing watch as the more interesting parts of Joseph Bologne’s life, his role in the French revolution despite being a nobleman, are left to be epilogue to the hour and forty-minute feature. The audience is instead met with a drab love story between the Chevalier and Samara Weavings’ character, the quaint singer Marie-Josephine de Montalembert who has a predictably brutish husband played by Marton Csokas to be the perfect picture of antagonism against the star-crossed lovers.
Writer of this feature, Stefani Robinson, is an award-winning writer across multiple series and has years of experience under her belt so it may be that the narrative issue lies in the selection of Bologne’s romance as the emphasised story. His struggle with hybrid identity and racial expectation have significant draw as themes yet were not fully adapted in a satisfactory way on screen, the main resolution being a rather trite scene where he enters a black neighbourhood and instantly joins a drum circle, getting lost as he plays a djembe drum. His interaction with this community seems to cure him overnight of the exuberant hangovers of bourgeois society that he has grown up with and in a sudden change of pacing he rapidly becomes a maverick musician, pushing back against the upper echelons.
This is not a particularly substantial storyline. For a man of so many real feats, this film opts for a less-interesting, predictable narrative. The redeeming features of this film are the performances given by the actors, and the extravagance of the musical pieces played throughout. For these parts I would say the film is worth a watch, but there is not a fulfilling or satisfactory story portrayed and you may find yourself instead investing time into reading about the Chevalier’s life.
