However, when he is reunited with his mother Nanon (a dignified Rnoke Adekoluejo), he eventually becomes involved in the African community of Paris. She delves into the white supremacist views that were in their still-early days at the time, with some complaining that France was “under siege” by Africans.Ĭhevalier spends much of his early life denying the African half of his heritage to better fit in with those around him. Stefani Robinson’s screenplay does an excellent job of showing how despite his wealth and high position, Chevalier is still plagued by discrimination because of his African heritage. While the love story is compelling, the political and cultural depiction of France in this time period is even more interesting.
A year later, he enjoys fame and fortune as an intimate friend of the queen, but his ambition urges him towards the highest role in the musical world: the leader of the Paris Opera.
It’s through the latter that he gains the attention of Queen Marie-Antoinette (Lucy Boynton, in perhaps her best role to date) at a fencing competition that he wins, leading her to bestow upon him the title of Chevalier de Saint-Georges. While never explicitly referred to again, this scene seemingly provides the motivation that drives the character throughout the rest of the film.Īs he grows, Joseph becomes more proficient not only in violin playing but also in composing and fencing. Before leaving, his father instructs him that he must always be excellent to prove wrong those who would doubt him. He is brought to an academy for gifted students, impressing the headmaster with his violin skills despite the man’s hesitancy to enroll a Black student. The film then flashes back to show Joseph arriving in France as a child, taken from his enslaved mother in Guadeloupe by his French aristocratic father. It’s a clever opening to a film about a figure who has often been given the nickname of “the Black Mozart” and brings to mind another duel in a theater in Harrison’s last film, Cyrano. Mozart arrogantly assumes that a “dark man” could not possibly play better than him, before Chevalier firmly proves that he is better at playing Mozart’s music than the composer is. Chevalier is inspired by the true story of this magnificent figure, and although it is a heavily fictionalized account of his life, it does important work in bringing attention to a Black artist whose legacy has largely been erased.įrom the first moments of the film, Stephen Williams’s skillful direction and Jess Hall’s beautiful cinematography are on display as Chevalier (a dashing Kelvin Harrison Jr.) interrupts Mozart’s concert to challenge him to a duel of violins. Considered the first Black classical composer, he enjoyed great fame and notoriety in the court of Marie Antoinette before serving as the colonel of the first all-Black regiment in Europe during the French Revolution.
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New members get a 6-month free trial, and you can cancel anytime.įind discounted products + free shipping when you shop Software on Amazon.Joseph Bologne, also known as Chevalier de Saint-Georges, was a brilliant composer, artist, and military man who has been largely lost in time.
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