Chevalier, 2016.
Directed by Athina Rachel Tsangari.
Starring Makis Papadimitriou, Yorgos Pirpassopoulos, Sakis Rouvas, Panos Koronis, Vangelis Mourikis, Yiorgos Kendros.
SYNOPSIS:
In the middle of the Aegean Sea, six men on a fishing trip on a luxury yacht decide to play a game. During this game, things will be compared. Things will be measured. Songs will be butchered, and blood will be tested.
The male ego – one of life’s little mysteries that is almost impossible to explain and decipher but for men, it’s everything. Power, credibility, likeability and everything in between comes from that dark corner of a man’s mind that they hope is the strongest of all. But such is the desire to have the biggest ego in town that any threat to it must be met with a stern hand, such is the nature of new film Chevalier.
The film takes place on a luxury yacht as a group of friends on a fishing trip are whisking through the Aegean Sea from one place to the next enjoying their time away from their partners and families to have some well earned male bonding time together. Over dinner, they decide to take the suggestion of one of them to play a game which will see everything about them put on the table for the others to see and judge, with the winner taking home the Chevalier winner’s ring as their prize. But being crowned the winner isn’t going to be easy as every single facet of their lives is set to be meticulously scrutinized by the others to decipher who amongst them is the manliest of men. Think Battle Royale with less killing but the same amount of disintegration.
With the film coming from a female perspective it adds such an interesting and deconstructive underlay that’s always biting and very funny. Director Athina Rachel Tsangari, who made her name with Attenberg in 2010, has brought us one of the comedy gems of the year, such is the hilarious lengths the men go to outsmart and outwit each other once their games begins. There is no stone left unturned by Tsangari and her co-writer Efthymis Filippou (who wrote the equally impressive The Lobster) as they dismember the cornerstone of the male brain one layer at a time with strange and strange humour. Filmed in mainly hand-held close-ups, Tsangari keeps a somewhat talkative and slow film feeling sharp and nimble, with no place for the men to hide in the small, claustrophobic surroundings of their little boat as we observe them in the raw – at times quite literally.
Beginning as the men are coming towards the end of their term, the games take hold of all of them and every facet of their day-to-day lives almost immediately after the initial suggestion is made. Everything from ringtones, body image, hairstyles, sense of humour and, of course, package size is dissected as each tries to stop the other with very funny results. Kudos too should go to the ensemble cast assembled here as each of the six men, as well as those side players involved (the cook, the driver etc.), turn in terrific performances, with Makis Papadimitriou in particular excelling as the subtle challenger Dimitris.
While its humour may be slightly too off-kilter for some, Chevalier is a gem of a film not to missed that analyses and dismembers every facet of the male ego. Told with no subject taboo, it delves deep into the heart of what ego truly is and how absurd it can be, all refreshingly told by director Tsangari that makes the film one of the most interesting of the year.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Scott J. Davis is a Senior Staff Writer and UK Reporter for Flickering Myth – Follow him on Twitter
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