Chevalier (12)

Join Dr Jenny Graham, Associate Professor in Art History at the University of Plymouth, for an introduction to Black history in eighteenth-century France, followed by the screening of Chevalier. The screening is to coincide with the Joshua Reynolds exhibition at The Box, Plymouth. Chevalier is the untold true story of composer Joseph Bologne, and how he defied racial norms to become the renowned musical genius known as Chevalier de Saint-Georges. The illegitimate son of an African slave and a French plantation owner, Bologne rose to improbable heights in French society as a celebrated violinist-composer and fencer, complete with an ill-fated love affair and a falling out with Marie Antoinette herself and her court. This is a gorgeously composed period biography of a brilliant, fiercely resilient artist, all too often forgotten in the history books.

Cast: Kelvin Harrison Jr., Samara Weaving, Lucy Boynton.

Directed by Stephen Williams, US, 2022, 108 mins.