Chevalier

This was a compelling period of French history and the narrative composed for the film makes the most of the volatile backdrop.

Both Robinson and Williams share a particular interest in this unfairly neglected episode in black history, but they never allow polemics to overwhelm the narrative.

There are hints of greatness in Chevalier, but it’s worthier of polite applause than a standing ovation.

Entertainingly soapy fare with an unabashedly brash and anachronistic approach to its 18th-century tale.

Though the experienced TV director Stephen Williams dutifully follows Bologne through a clash with Antoinette and the Paris Opera, and eventually into the French Revolution, the project fails to earn the required gravitas.

Williams and Robinson's insistence on converting this important story about the earliest European musician and composer of African descent to receive widespread acclaim into contemporary American talking points, often feels misguided.

...a fairly generic biopic that never quite becomes as compelling or spellbinding as its subject matter might’ve indicated...

It is more accomplished than Bernard Rose’s Immortal Beloved (1994), but at the same time no one should expect anything approaching Miloš Forman’s Amadeus (1984).

Although there is currently a huge effort underway to unearth, perform and record Bologne’s music, it would take all the forces of militant wokeness to put him on the same plane as Gluck.

Chevalier spends a great deal of time showing the composer’s struggle with dual identities, leaving the final act rushed and barely shows him reconnecting with his roots.