Chevalier – REVIEW

Chevalier de Saint-Georges was a strange sight at the Parisian Court of Marie Antoinette before the guillotines brought an end to the never-ending party. A black escapee of a Caribbean slave plantation, he reached the upper realms of society with his extraordinary skill, not just on the violin, but also as a fencer and dancer.

The new film from director Stephen Williams (Watchmen, Westworld) and screenwriter Stefani Robinson (Atlanta) brings Joseph Bologne AKA Chevalier de Saint-Georges to life in Chevalier, a glossy period drama which details the unlikely life of a black man in the very white court of Versailles.

It’s surprising his story hasn’t been told before, given the prodigy’s position in court, and his unlikely rise to celebrity-status.  Bologne – played by Kelvin Harrison Jr, – was born in 1745 on the island of Guadeloupe. His parents were Georges de Bologne Saint-Georges, a wealthy French plantation owner, and an enslaved 16-year-old from Senegal, known as Nanon, who would eventually live in France as a free woman.

Saint-Georges composed and published numerous operas, string quartets, concertos, and symphonies over a short span of time, from 1771-1779. He performed all his violin concertos as soloist with Le Concert Olympique—an orchestra he also conducted.  Before he became known as a violin virtuoso, Saint-Georges was renowned as the greatest swordsman in Europe. He was once attacked by five anti-abolitionists and Saint-Georges dispatched all five and went on to perform in a salon concert with friends that very night.

Chevalier opens with a competitive violin duel with Mozart, establishing his extraordinary expertise in front of Marie Antoinette (Lucy Boynton, Bohemian Rhapsody, Barbie)  and members of her court, including Marie-Josephine de Montalembert (Samara Weaving, Babylon, Scream 6), But when he asks Marie-Josephine to sing for the opera he’s written for her, her husband Marc-René de Montalembert, (Marton Csokas) refuses to allow her to perform. She does so anyway and ends up in bed with the virtuoso.

Chevalier isn’t the only period drama to centre on a person of colour, (think Bridgerton or Dev Patel’s David Copperfield) but Chevalier brings an extraordinary Black life from the period to the screen, littered with the casual racism he encounters throughout his life. With such rich material, it’s a pity the film never really rises above a standard-fare biopic, even with the dramatic beginnings of the French Revolution baying to be heard in the background.

The production design is remarkable, and Kelvin Harrison Jr in the titular role swathed in a powdered wig, luxurious layers of silk and brimming with ambition is a force of nature that carries the film.

It’s a remarkable story which could have been tweaked into something more magical, but it’s the story that saves the film and gives us a glimpse into the life of a true musical pioneer.

★★★

In cinemas August 3