Chevalier | 2022 | PG-13 | – 5.4.5

Why is “Chevalier” rated PG-13? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “thematic content, some strong language, suggestive material and violence.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes several implied sex scenes between a married woman and a young man, several kissing scenes, a couple of attempted seductions, an unplanned pregnancy, a fencing duel with some bloodshed, the implied murder of a newborn, a man shot during a protest, several fights with a young man (and also a teen boy) being struck and kicked, several arguments, discussions of slavery, discussions of adultery, and at least 1 F-word and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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Based on the life of the brilliant Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), who grew up as the illegitimate son of a plantation owner and his African slave in the late 1700s to become a celebrated composer, before the racism and classism of French society erased him from history. Also with Samara Weaving, Lucy Boynton, Ronke Adekoluejo, Marton Csokas, Alex Fitzalan, Minnie Driver and Joseph Prowen. Directed by Stephen Williams. A few lines of dialogue are spoken in an unidentified language with translation. [Running Time: 1:48]

Chevalier SEX/NUDITY 5

 – A married young woman lies in bed apparently nude but covered by bedclothes (we see her bare shoulders and one leg to the upper thigh); a young man removes his shirt (we see his bare back, chest and abdomen), they kiss (sex is implied). A young man and a young woman lie in bed together, they kiss and sex is implied (we see her bare back to the upper buttocks and his bare chest). After a party we see many men and women in various stages of undress in an apartment with some sleeping on top of each other and sex is implied (the bare chests, backs, abdomens of men, and the women’s bare backs, abdomens and legs are visible). A young man sits on a bed and a married young woman joins him and touches his chest, they kiss and sex is implied.
► A young woman stumbles and a young man catches her, caresses her hands and arms and they embrace; he kisses her neck and they kiss tenderly and then passionately. A young man kisses a young woman’s hand and seems to be smitten with her.
► A woman tries to seduce a young man and makes a comment that seems to be referring to his sexual prowess; she invites him to her carriage for a private rehearsal and he declines. A young man tries to convince a young woman to run away with him and leave her husband (she declines).
► Women wear low-cut dresses of the period that reveal cleavage in most scenes throughout the movie.

Chevalier VIOLENCE/GORE 4

 – A man in a crowd of protesters is shot and falls to the ground with a bloody wound. A young man and a man fence and one slashes the other several times drawing blood and the other elbows him in the face. A young man is grabbed by two guards and taken out of a gathering; the young man yells and walks through dark streets where he is surrounded by many other men that beat him with punches and kicks and one man orders that they break his hands (they do not). A young boy is bullied when he enters a private school and other students stare at him and later push him to the ground and kick him repeatedly while calling him names.
► A young man is grabbed by two guards in a theater and is held at gunpoint as they try to remove him; the audience yells at the guards and surrounds them. A woman remembers trying to get her young son back after he was taken from her; we see her being held and dragged by men to keep her away from the child. Several scenes show crowds of people protesting in streets and some are heard from a distance chanting, “Liberté.”
► A man onstage plays a violin accompanied by an orchestra; a man in the audience approaches the stage asking if he can join him and they play competitively trying to outdo each other and one man leaves the stage upset. We see that a young woman is pregnant and understand that she has the child; we are later told that her husband killed the child when he saw the color of his skin. A young man yells and cries, throws a bottle of wine against a wall when he is told that his child was murdered. A young man drinks wine and isolates himself until his mother convinces him to join her at a street party.
► Many people gather at a meeting to discuss how to pursue liberty from the heavy-handed rule of the monarchy that has led to desperation for many people. A man introduces the competitors in a fencing display and says that one young man is the enemy of France, using a derogatory term for Black people. A few people tease a young man and say that he looks like a “white boy.” A man accompanies his young son to a private school where he is told to put the boy on a plantation, not in school, because he is Black. A young man receives word that his father died and that his mother (who was a slave on his father’s plantation) was freed. A woman says, “Rub his nose in all that smarm.” A young man is disappointed when he is told that he has not been awarded a prestigious position and confronts a woman about not defending and supporting him; they then argue. A man insults another man and a woman, and tells the woman, “All this because I wouldn’t bed you.” We read that a young man led a regiment of Black soldiers in the French Revolution. A young man and woman attending an opera make disparaging comments from a box above the stage; the woman says, “Drive a hairpin through my heart.” A woman says of a man, “He was so loud when he was drunk.” A woman says of her son that he was unruly and that he “…couldn’t sit still for even a moment.” A young man tells a man, “You’re playing a dangerous game.” A young man is told, “You don’t belong here.” We read that slavery was reinstated in France in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte.

Chevalier LANGUAGE 5

 – At least 1 F-word, 4 sexual references, 1 scatological term, 1 mild obscenity, 10 derogatory terms for Black people, name-calling (dark stranger, bastard, cruel, terrible, fraud, traitor, sub-human race, tourist, political mascot, tyrants, bullies, treasonous, radical progressive, fools, wickedness, pathetic, harlot, silly old thing, party trick, stale, snake, coward, tragic, stupid, more than unsavory, clumsy monkey, evil, unruly, like a dog to be bred, dull), exclamations (how dare you), 4 religious exclamations (e.g. oh God, Christ, God given purpose, ordained by God). | profanity glossary |

Chevalier SUBSTANCE USE

 – People drink wine in several party scenes, people drink in a bar, a young man drinks from a bottle of liquor while watching an opera performance and appears inebriated, and a young man drinks wine and isolates himself.

Chevalier DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Racism, classism, slavery, the French aristocracy, Napoleon Bonaparte, the French Revolution, Marie Antoinette, indiscretions, infidelity, jealousy, lies, revenge, forgiveness, ignorance, adultery, ego, spies, order, traitors, life choices, mediocrity, modesty, injustice.

Chevalier MESSAGE

 – Even when the odds seem insurmountable, there is always the choice to fight. History can be erased.