In celebration of CHEVALIER’s digital release today, we spoke with the film’s director, Stephen Williams.

CHEVALIER is inspired by the incredible story of composer Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges. The illegitimate son of an African slave and a French plantation owner, Bologne (Kelvin Harrison Jr. in a tour de force performance) rises 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 (Lucy Boynton) herself and her court.

Searchlight Pictures presents, a Stephen Williams film, CHEVALIER, starring Kelvin Harrison Jr., Samara Weaving, Lucy Boynton, Minnie Driver, Sian Clifford, Alex Fitzalan and Ronkẹ Adékoluẹjo. Directed by Stephen Williams, the film is written by Stefani Robinson and produced by Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe at Element Pictures, Stefani Robinson, and Dianne McGunigle. Production designer Karen Murphy, director of photography Jess Hall, composer Michael Abels, costume designer Oliver García, editor John Axelrad and set decorator Lotty Sanna round out the production team.

CHEVALIER is now available digitally on HULU, Prime Video, Vudu, and Google Play Movies & TV.

I got the wonderful opportunity to speak with Stephen Williams, the film’s director. He explained how similar Joseph Bologne’s tale was to his own, and how many people can identify with this internal and external battle of identity, just as Joseph did.

Cox: When the movie starts, we go into Joseph Bologne and his interaction with Mozart at his recital. At first, you think Joseph is arrogant with his approach, but then you realize that it’s because he knows that Mozart and the rest of the ensemble will underestimate him. Why was it essential to start with this scene? 

Williams: That’s a great question. You know that Mozart and Joseph were contemporaries and aware of each other. But the prevailing system of appraisal at that time, which continues to be true today, was such that Joseph would always be diminished. And he knows that going into that scene. That is a haiku, if you will. It’s a short poem that sets up the rest of the movie, which expands on it. 

Cox: This movie showcases his life in three parts, which start with him being dropped off at school by his father. In this scene, you see his father telling him how he has to be excellent so that no one can deny him, and he proceeds to say that an excellent Frenchman can’t be defeated. What is profound here is that we see Joseph growing up with that mentality and believing himself to be a Frenchman at the end of the day. 

Williams: It’s essential to understand and remind ourselves that Joseph was born in Guadeloupe, in the Caribbean islands, and was taken to Paris by his father at age 10. I was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and moved to England at 12. And I recognize aspects of my life with Joseph: his life journey, trajectory, and signposts. I know what it feels like to be an outsider on the margins of a dominant culture and what you have to do to try to make sense of that experience. 

I know personally, like Joseph, the acquired belief that if you exert ambition, you will find a way to put the pieces of the puzzle that are your life in some coherent order. That type of journey is a very complicated one, and it’s riddled with contradictions. That was an experience that many people had during that pre-revolutionary French period. And for me, certainly, when I looked at the social context in which Joseph’s life unfolded, I felt like, “Yeah, it’s the mid-1700s in France, but it could be today. This resonated even into the present moment and was refracted through my experience. 

And so, the film is an attempt to grapple with all of that. 

Cox: And when you look at the social context throughout the film, you see those aspects of nationalism and individualism and how those lines can be blurred. He says profoundly, “When I excelled, they loved me more, and the less I was alone,” But then later, you see that even though he excelled, he wasn’t truly accepted as a Frenchman but was tolerated. 

Williams: How many times has that experience been replicated, certainly in our country and across any nation, state, or territory that has inherited the legacy of colonialism, imperialism, or a race-based economy? It’s a prevalent journey, and I felt like there was a kind of universality to it, even beyond the specifics of ethnicity and race. 

For most people, their life charts are on an evolutionary path, and the things that they believed and felt when they were young are things that they adjust to with life experience. In many ways, for me, the essence of the movie is a story about a man who, by virtue of the knowledge that he confronted in his life, led him to a place where he had a great sense of self-awareness, self-understanding, and self-determination by the end of the movie. As Bob Marley would say, “he has emancipated himself from mental slavery” by the movie’s end. And for many of us, regardless of the specificity of ethnicity or race, we can recognize, acknowledge, and connect with that. 

Cox: We also see how his identity as a Frenchman gets torn down when he doesn’t receive any inheritance after his father’s passing. He is classified as illegitimate because he is black. Then tension arises when his mother comes to live with him. You see, this internal conflict starts within him. 

Williams: This huge gulf emerges between the time Joseph is separated from his mother andHis mother, Nan, is of Senegalese descent and is rooted in her African ancestry. She was impregnated by Joseph’s father, George Bologna, who owned the plantation where she worked. Joseph was separated from her at an early age, so he has different life experiences that change who he is and his belief system at the same time. When they are reunited, there is this gulf between them, and it is she who shepherds him and guides him with patience and love. She brings him back to a greater sense of clarity about his essence, interior, and destiny. 

And that’s a journey I can relate to without getting too personal. I left home when I was 12, and though my experience was slightly different, I can recognize being reunited with my mother. So that part of the movie is really personal for me. 

Cox: Nearing the end, there is this moment when he realizes with Queen Marie Antoinette that, though he thought he was a Frenchman, to them, he is just another black man living in France. When he didn’t get the position, even though he beat out the competition, it all dawned on him. 

Williams: There is often a conditionality in the negotiation of acceptance between a dominant culture and someone who exists on the margins of that culture. That acceptance can be withdrawn at any moment. 

Cox: In the end, you have this powerful moment with him and his mother; she reminds him of who he truly is. 

Williams: I mean, we’re back at emancipating yourself from mental slavery and seeing clearly who you are, what your journey in this life is, your destiny, your genuine true path, and your authentic self. She is the agency through which Joseph connects with that!