《圣乔治骑士》是一部融合了剧情、音乐、传记和历史元素的电影。影片讲述了约瑟夫·布洛涅（由小凯文·哈里森KelvinHarrisonJr.饰演）在1745年出生于法属加勒比地区的非洲奴隶和法国种植园主的私生子的身份背景。
约瑟夫在法国社会中拥有了其他黑人无法企及的职位，他不仅是一位出色的小提琴家和作曲家，还是一位击剑冠军。然而，他的一段不幸恋爱与一位法国贵妇的关系，以及与玛丽·安托瓦内特及她的宫廷之间的冲突，最终导致了他的早逝。
影片通过展现约瑟夫的生平和他在法国社会中的地位，深入探讨了种族、阶级和爱情等主题。剧情紧凑，音乐悦耳动人，为观众带来了一次感性而震撼的视听盛宴。同时，影片也通过对历史背景的描绘，让观众对那个时代的社会环境和人们的生活有了更深入的了解。
小凯文·哈里森KelvinHarrisonJr.在片中的精彩表演令人难以忘怀，他将约瑟夫的复杂情感和内心挣扎演绎得淋漓尽致。导演巧妙地运用镜头语言和音乐，将观众带入了约瑟夫的内心世界，让人们对他的人生经历产生了共鸣和思考。
总的来说，《圣乔治骑士》是一部兼具艺术性和观赏性的电影作品，它以独特的视角和精湛的表演，向观众展现了一个充满挑战和矛盾的时代，同时也让人们对人性和社会问题有了更深入的思考。
Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799), is a long forgotten virtuosic musician due to his pigmentation (erased from the history by Napoleon I), so it is high time to introduce his less heralded, if, unavoidably unfulfilled legacy to the whole world. Hence, Stephen Williams’s biopic dutifully does the job, though it somehow reeks of unsavory chauvinism.
A peer of Mozart, the before-title introduction scene pits Joseph (Harrison) against Mozart (Prowen) in a cadenza duel and ends up with Joseph upstaging the latter, A fanciful artistic license to imply that if we live in a just world, Mozart would’ve been called “Black Bologne” and not the vice versa. It might be too big a stretch, but it is imperative to do impelled by the necessity of rectifying past wrongs and empowering the repressed and mistreated, which is also something very easy to error on the side of for any artistic creation.
One of the major issues is that the script aridly makes a meal of Joseph’s interpersonal relations with members of the opposite sex to ginger up the insipid plot. For anyone who is equipped with adequate common sense, it pans out without any tact and surprise. To make matters worse, every female character is conceived only to counterpoise Joseph’s remarkable virtues: Madame Guimard (Driver) is vengeful because she is offended for failing to have her way with him; Joseph falls into disfavor is because Marie Antoinette (Boynton, breaking a sweat to compose herself as royal breeding is not in her element) backpedals and pulls the rug out from under first; even Marie-Josephine (Weaving, dismally miscast in period fineries), with whom Joseph engages an extramarital affair, is too craven to start a life anew with a black man, and is partially responsible for a dastardly infanticide. Even Joseph’s mother Nanon (Adekoluejo) fits right to the “magic negro” trope, dignified by her suffering and judgmental of Joseph’s deviation from his root. When she gives his son a piece of her mind, you can bet it is the nuggets of subsisting in a vastly unjust world.
As a performer, Harrison’s arduous industry of practicing violin is nothing if not remarkable, but his effort is woefully cheapened by Joseph’s anodyne characterization, whose personality is zilch, and whose every emotional output is mechanically predictable. Considering that the French Revolution is in the horizon and Joseph’s participation in it is completely left untapped, the omission CHEVALIER leaves behind is outright regrettable. That said, the grace note is that now anyone can freely savor new-discovered Joseph’s works to dispel any grievance, a justification of the low-hanging fruit sort.
Inhabiting in a cinematic world suffused with a glut of high-intention-low-execution biopics, audience has already had a bellyful, CHEVALIER is an umpteenth case in point. It is not okay to see talent and money get squandered in such a fashion, however noble the initiative is. Hereby, I rest my case.
referential entries: Milos Forman’s AMADEUS (1984, 8.9/10); Benoît Jacquot’s FAREWELL, MY QUEEN (2012, 6.4/10).
Title: ChevalierYear: 2022Genre: Biography, Drama, HistoryCountry: USALanguage: English, WolofDirector: Stephen WilliamsScreenwriter: Stefani RobinsonMusic: Kris BowersCinematography: Jess HallEditor: John AxelradCast:Kelvin Harrison Jr.Samara WeavingLucy BoyntonMarton CsokasRonke AdekoluejoMinnie DriverAlex FitzalanSian CliffordHenry Lloyd-HughesJoseph ProwenRating: 5.9/10