Chevalier verses Mozart; "Anything you can play, I can play better". Photo: Searchlight Pictures
From duelling violins to duels to the death, Chevalier - Hollywood's latest attempt to bring a composer's life to the big screen - doesn't lack for action. After Tár (starring Cate Blanchett as a top-flight conductor) it's the second big budget movie in 2023 to delve into the classical music world. And there's more to come, with Netflix due to release a biopic on Leonard Bernstein at the end of the year.
Starring Kelvin Harrison Jr, Chevalier tells the story of the son of a slave and slave-owner who becomes the toast of the Paris music scene in the late 18th Century.
Bryan Crump spoke to RNZ film critic, Simon Morris, to gauge the movie's merits. Comparisons with the 1980s release Amadeus were obvious; the setting and soundtrack are similar. There's even a violin duel between Mozart and the movie's hero. However, according to Morris, what sets Chevalier apart is that most of it is actually true. Morris was also impressed by the film's swordfights: as well as being excellent on the fiddle, Chevalier was an accomplished fencer. Here's Simon's review from "At The Movies".
