Joseph Bologne (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), or Chevalier de Saint-Georges as he was often referred to as, was born in the mid 1700s as an illegitimate son of George Bologne (Jim High), a slave owner, and Nanon (Ronke Adekoluejo), the personal attendant to George’s wife. Joseph is sent away and enrolled into a prestigious school where he would grow into being a champion fencer and virtuosic violinist. When the position of conductor for the Paris Opera opened, he was in the running along with Christoph Gluck (Henry Lloyd-Hughes). To decide who will receive the illustrious position, each was to compose an opera to be judged on merit and to the victor: the baton. Joseph was well into rehearsals of his Ernestine with Marie-Josephine (Samara Weaving) in the lead role before the contest is canceled, and the position awarded to Gluck because the divas of the company petitioned that they would not recognize Joseph on account of his race. 

After premiering at Toronto International Film Festival in 2022, Chevalier was distributed theatrically by Searchlight Pictures. Written by Stefani Robinson and directed by Stephen Williams, the 107-minute film has all the trappings of a period costume drama and the benefit of all departments working at the top of their game towards a unified vision so that it pops off the screen and becomes a thrilling work. With a life so inherently cinematic in nature, it is not surprising that Chevalier is packed to the brim with intrigue, lusty relations, and backstabbing drama which all help break it free from the stuffy confines of the preconceived notions a classical music costume drama would otherwise carry. 

In the title role, Harrison Jr. continues his focus on music-based roles coming off of Joe Wright’s Cyrano (2021) in the role of Christian and Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis (2022) where he played B.B. King. As Chevalier, he brings a bravado to the role that is both necessary and well-earned, not only because of the skills possessed by the historic figure, but also the skills of the actor who does his own violin work here without a stand-in. Robinson’s script wastes no time in establishing his prowess, opting to open the film with Joseph challenging and upstaging Mozart (Joseph Prowen) in a sequence of dueling violins before a comical smash cut to the title card. From that first moment until the last, Harrison Jr. flaunts his ability to effortlessly draw all eyes toward him as he fills the frame with a magnetic presence. With that energy, it is no wonder that he captures the attention of Marie Antionette (Lucy Boynton) and Marie-Josephine; both married ladies of the upper classes in French society. 

For a film based around a prominent musical figure, it is fitting that the score, provided by Kris Bowers, fits the film perfectly. Inspired by what remains of Chevalier’s music – most having been lost by a fire – the score retains the period instrument sound while still feeling very modern and propulsive. This liveliness adds some electricity to the film which was beautifully decorated by Lotty Sanna and costumed by Oliver Garcia. Each character is given their own color pallet to work in and while the puffy dresses and frilly collars can typically be a deterrent, here the colors all enjoy a bright sheen about them so that the frames are never boring or desaturated. Much of the film was shot on location, many of the settings historically important and scouted by Filip Doruska, so the tangibility of it all comes through on the screen in a way that is unmatched against even the best CGI.  

As far as the narrative is concerned, the film tells but a small aspect of Chevalier’s storied life. While the cradle-to-the-grave biopic has fallen out of taste in recent years, if ever there was a figure’s whose life could support such an epic, it would have been Joseph Bologne. With both the writer and director’s history in television, it is nice to see that they opted to keep this a feature film, but there are some elements of the structure where it is clear that they wanted to stretch their legs a little more than the runtime would allow and explore Chevalier’s life in deeper detail. His military career and his work as a revolutionary are largely regulated to some closing title cards, and his youth as the only person of color at the prestigious boarding school occupies just a brief few minutes of screen time. On one hand, the racist hazing which he endured does not need to be expanded on more so than it already is, but on a narrative level, this separation from his family while he forges his independence could have helped smooth out some of the expository scenes later on in the film that discloses the more nuanced relationship between him and his parents. There is a tender relationship that is clumsily explored between Joseph and his mother when she comes to live with him after the passing of his father in which she helps Joseph grapple with his identity. It is not that he rejects his past as a Creole free man of color that is the issue at play here – he often wields the discomfort surrounding the color of his skin held by those in his circle to his advantage – but it is when she convinces him to work in some of the motifs of a nursery rhyme from his youth that feels a little too obvious and bluntly handled for a script that otherwise worked very incrementally towards its themes. By expanding his childhood, these scenes would have been further supported and not feel like digressions from the action, not to mention it would have elevated Adekoluejo from doing her best in a thankless role to a filling a stronger supporting position in the film.  

The disingenuous reading of the film would be it is just another costume drama, and in a way it is. Chevalier checks off all the boxes, but the craftsmanship behind the film is operating at such a uniformly high level that even those allergic to these Enlightenment Era sagas will find themselves enthralled. The twisting allegiances keep the story fresh and exciting, and though the final twenty minutes do get a little messy in trying to track who has lied to who and about what, the overall sense of the story is well conveyed. Harrison Jr. gives an undeniable performance, and though Chevalier will not be setting any box office records, the stately yet un-pretentious nature of the film should allow it to reach a wide audience and with any luck, set the actor – as well as both Robinson and Williams – on the right track to keep delivering these fiercely modern, unassuming, yet flashy works. No one here is content to sit back and let the idea of Chevalier carry the film, they all boldly take charge of their roles and bring a consistent energy to the screen that is not often seen.