CHEVALIER (2023) - Mark Reviews Movies

Chevalier, Searchlight Pictures

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Review by Mark Dujsik | April 20, 2023

People can forget history, but consider how much of history cannot be forgotten because it was never known, having been changed or outright erased, in the first place. That's the case with the story of Chevalier, a biography of Joseph Bologne, who earned the eponymous honor and rank—essentially a knighthood—for his skill with a sword and his musical acumen.

That may not seem extraordinary, except that Bologne, Chevalier of Saint-Georges, was the illegitimately born son of a French plantation owner and an enslaved Senegalese woman. Given the inherent and systematic racism of this time and place, it means that Bologne's talents and accomplishments must have rivaled or surpassed most of his contemporaries. If this is the first time you are hearing of the man (as is almost certainly the case, save for the most ardent students of French or music history), that serves as confirmation of history being influenced or overtly manipulated by the powers-that-be of the time and, as too many politicians and governments in the United States are currently proving, now.

The time for Bologne's story has come, though, with screenwriter Stefani Robinson and director Stephen Williams' energetic and skillful biographical film. It primarily covers the period of the subject's greatest success, as a favorite of a certain royal and a candidate to represent the entire musical culture of France in the latter half of the 18th century, until the fall of that favor with the upper echelons of society. How much of this tale is historically accurate and how much of it is a creation of fiction will probably be difficult to ascertain, and in a way, that almost makes such examination and dissection irrelevant. There is truth to the drama, either real or imagined by the filmmakers, and that's the most important element of this story, particularly as an act of reclaiming history.

An engaging Kelvin Harrison Jr. plays Joseph, whom we first meet making the bold move to request a visiting Mozart (Joseph Prowen) the opportunity to play violin with him at a public performance of the composer's works. Their duet gradually and amusingly becomes a duel of strings, leading the Austrian to rush offstage and ask, in semi-anachronistically vulgar terms, who this man is.

The answer arrives with a flashback to a young Joseph, having been taken from his mother by his father, being enlisted in an elite Parisian academy, where he thrives as a fencer and a musician despite prejudice and abuse. Upon fighting for the ideal of a new France on behalf of his friend and member of the nobility Philippe (Alex Fitzalan), Joseph is granted his title by none other than Queen Marie Antoinette (Lucy Boynton). The title gives him a fine apartment in the city, a staff, the freedom to work on music as he pleases, and a friendship with the queen, who enjoys gossiping with Joseph about figures in the Paris Opera.

Robinson's screenplay gets right to the politics of the period—not only ones of race and prejudice, but also those in general. The plot here involves Joseph's bid to become the head of the Paris Opera, an idea tacitly endorsed by the queen but kept silent on account of her friend's race. His main competition is a foreign composer/conductor, but because of his complexion, the foreigner is considered a more "suitable" candidate than a Black Frenchman. Because of his title and his connection to the queen, Joseph arranges a competition: Each composer will pen an opera, and the writer of the better one will win the position.

Beneath this main through line, Robinson weaves in other personal and political conflicts, from Joseph's budding relationship with aspiring opera singer Marie-Josephine (Samara Weaving), the trophy wife of a strict marquis (played by Marton Csokas), to the murmurings of a more egalitarian society within the country—murmurs that seem to become louder and louder each day, until they result in mass protests against royalty. With the return of his mother (played by Ronkẹ Adékoluẹjo), Joseph ignores her warnings that these powerful people cannot be trusted, either because they are using him or because they are part of a system that will not fully accept him.

Obviously, those ulterior motives or thin loyalties come to light. The strength of the tale is in how well the filmmakers weave Joseph's ambition and talent into the fabric of these political ideals about liberty and equality, while ensuring that we never lose sight of the fact that society as it stands is an entirely separate tapestry. Harrison's performance, as a naïve man filled with earned bravado who gradually learns his own strength and of some true allies (The film's text coda suggests or bypasses a couple more chapters of Bologne's life that would be worth telling), helps to carry this, but Williams' filmmaking, filled with a sense of fluid momentum (One montage in which Joseph writes his opera is a showcase of seamless editing and/or clever staging), is noteworthy, too.

Chevalier may not give us the full extent of Bologne's life and character, but when the life and quality of an individual is intentionally repressed history, can that feasibly be expected of a biographical film? The film we do receive, though, is one that wisely sees the political evolution of a man, whose entire existence has been made political by society. As for that man's erasure from history for all this time, it is an extension of those prejudicial politics and beliefs, and this film helps to serve as a way to dismantle them.

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