CHEVALIER (Greece 2015) ***
Directed by Athina Rachel Tsangari

Review by Gilbert Seah

Greek director Athina Rachel Tsangari broke into the art-house cinema circuit in 2010 with her feminine study in ATTENBERG. Like ATTENBERG, CHEVALIER is a deadpan comedy of manners, so deadpan that much of the humour may be missed. However, the females in her previous films are now replaced by six males – all stuck on a yacht in the Aegean Sea, playing an absurd game in which the winner gets to wear the CHEVALIER ring as a reward. What the game requires is each member to grade every other on personal mental and physical challenges, that are determined by the grader himself. So, hilariously, each go about with a notebook taking notes on every other. The winner is the ‘Best in General’.

CHEVALIER has a good premise judging from the popularity of reality shows like BIG BROTHER these days. The difference is that CHEVALIER is a fictionalized reality show but one in which the director allows her assemble cast to react with each other. The fact that all the participants are constantly being scrutinized on what they don’t know makes it all the more hilarious. The difference between this and Big Brother is that no one gets voted out, they cannot form alliances and the prize is one of ego.

Tsangari’s last two features were about women. Her decision to make a film on men instead of women as well as to include a gay couple makes her film even more relevant. The chevalier game is proposed by the men out of boredom. One immediately wonders what would come to mind if the participants were female. Men have been known always to be competitive and the film shows males in their extreme. When watching the film, it should be borne in mind that the film is a look at men from a feminine perspective.

The Aegean sea and the rocky landscape of the surrounding islands make stunning cinematography. The modern yacht with all the amenities is also gorgeous to be on.

Tsangari’s ATTENBERG was really slow, artsy and about women. I could not get into that feature and was not looking forward to CHEVALIER. CHEVALIER took me my surprise. Absurd, hilarious, relevant and absorbing, Tsangari has proven herself apt at films dealing with the nature of human beings.

A contest among males would inevitably lead to a segment with a contest of cock size. This truth occurs in one funny segment ins which a contender argues that his non-erection that morning could be a result of a bad dream in which his accuser was murdered, and that accuser could have vouched for his big dick in another instance when he had screwed someone in front of him.

All the characters are equally interesting. It takes a while for the audience to be able to identify each character as being different from another. As far as who will win the contest or which character is the most interesting, viewers will likely not pick the same person. The film does not give any real reason for the six assembling in the yacht except for a few like one older bullying brother, Yannis (Yorgos Pirpassopoulos) allowing his younger brother Dimitris (Makis Papadimitriou) out of feeling sorry for him.

Like the other Greek film auteur Yorgos Lanthimos’ THE LOBSTER, Tsangari offers audiences another society within our living one. Perhaps this is a reflection of what is desired as a result of what’s happening with the Greeks current economic crisis. CHEVALIER won Best Film at the London Film Festival.