Being a huge fan of Attenberg, I was very much looking forward to Athina Rachel Tsangari's next effort, and while I'd certainly argue that Chevalier is a much more accessible film than her previous effort, the film still offers a truly unique slice of filmmaking from Tsangari. Set in the middle of the Aegean Sea, six friends on a fishing trip decide to play a a game. The game entails a competition, with each friend pitted against the other, in an attempt to determine who is the best among them. Featuring lively performances from all involved, Athina Rachel Tsangari's Chevalier is a delightful film commenting on the pettiness of competition, exploring themes of vanity, the pursuit of perfection, and friendship. Every single conversation in this film, even ones about the most trivial of things, has an undercurrent of judgement or hostility, as these six men try to prove that they are the best of the bunch. While the game is what obviously calls out the pettiness and shadowed arrogance of these various men in a very literal form, it is apparent even in the first few minutes of Chevalier, before the game is even thought up by these six men, that these individuals pride their self worth on how they are perceived by their friends. With not a single female character in the entire film, it appears that Chevalier is interested in the penchant masculinity has for competition and being the alpha, showing how the hostility that can emerge in an effort to be the best. As the film progresses, it slowly reveals all the insecurities each of these men has, stripping them slowly away of their exterior pandering and revealing their inner pathos. While all the characters are well developed and explored, I particularly found Dimitrius, a chubby, insecure, yet charming man, to be a very important part to what Chevalier is trying to achieve. While Dimitrius is presented as the screw up early on in the film, as it progresses, it begins to become clear that he is the only character who isn't firmly invested in winning the competition above all else, a man who truly cares about his friends, the most imperfect from the outside but the best of them on the inside. As the other character's insecurities and faults are revealed nothing really changes with Dimitrius, as he was the only character who showed his true self from the very beginning. Featuring some hilarious moments throughout, Chevalier is the type of film that thrives on capturing the absurdity of everyday, friendly competition, questioning the merits of "being the best" and asking simply what that even means. Athina Rachel Tsangari's Chevalier is another singular effort from the iconoclast filmmaker, a film that truly captures the ideal that politeness has nothing to do with character.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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