#REVIEW: “CHEVALIER”

Review by Amanda Gilmore for Mr. Will Wong

Chevalier is a lavish Biopic about French-Caribbean Composer Joseph Bologne (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), Chevalier de Saint-Georges, who pretty much has been erased from the history books.

Joseph was the illegitimate son of an African slave and a French plantation owner. His father enrolled him in a music school in Paris as a child where he was left to be raised. As Joseph grew-up, his talent caught the sight of Queen Marie Antoinette (Lucy Boynton) who made him her Chevalier. He continued to rise through the heights of French society until his ill-fated love affair with Marie-Josephine (Samara Weaving).

Taking place in the 18th century, Director Stephen Williams captures the time with vibrant flair. His vision brings a lush set and costume design that transports us into the French aristocracy. Williams excels at delivering the luxurious lifestyle of Marie Antoinette (a delightful portrayal by Boynton) and by association Joseph Bologne while showing the inhumanity of the time. While the merciless living conditions of the French people are touched upon, the main focus is the unrelenting cruelty toward Joseph.

He’s a man climbing the ranks of society in a world built to control him. Although he’s made it to a Chevalier, he’s still forced into a cage. Even his ‘friend’ the Queen refuses to go against the racist upper class who are hellbent on tearing the man down. Harrison Jr. is exceedingly-great at every turn as the virtuoso. He shows the fire within the man who attempts to hold the blaze at bay. It’s clear that Joseph was a man who tried his best to play by his society’s rules until his world came crashing down.

Stefani Robinson’s well-paced Script brings the inspiring rise and painful fall that was the Maestro’s life. The first two-thirds of the Film show him rising the ranks. He gets all the way to competing for the spot as the Head Composer of the Opera. It’s during the rehearsals that he falls in love with the exquisite Opera Singer Marie-Josephine. Weaving is outstanding as a woman craving autonomy in life without it.

Williams and Robinson make us believe that Chevalier is heading to the happy ending we’re wishing for the man. That all the cruelty Joseph encountered thus far was to get him to the top. But unfortunately, that isn’t how Joseph’s life turned out. Instead, the Filmmakers show us the vile reality and tell the honest history of one of the world’s first Black Composers.

Searchlight Pictures release CHEVALIER on Friday, April 21, 2023.