Chevalier starts strong but makes a mistake I doubt they could have predicted. They tell us this story is taking place in pre-revolution France and when the movie bogs down bitterly in its second half, I sat there stewing in my seat, hoping the revolution would come and heads would start to roll. Not the intended reaction, for sure.

The film is about the son of a slave owner and his slave brought back to France from the colonies. He is a man of arts and an expert fencer who quickly becomes chevalier in the court of Marie Antoinette. He is treated as an equal… except for when he’s not.

The fact this is based on a true story that was lost to time is certainly interesting. And, for a time, the film had me. It was interesting and intriguing… but slowly the mannerisms, ego, and frustrating stupidity of the lead started to annoy me. And the deeper into its drama and back-stabbing it got, the deeper into rank melodrama it fell.

The film lost me on its characters, pure and simple. And then it lost me on the revolution too. I wasn’t sure what they were trying to say about the liberté, égalité, fraternité of the people while also being a film about racism. Is it saying we’re all the same or is it saying that the rabble don’t know what liberty truly is? The plot became conceptually muddles and unclear… as if the whole French Revolution was just a frivolous backdrop.

I’m afraid this just wasn’t the film and the presentation of character for me. It’s a fascinating and even important story… poorly told.

Score: 68