In 2011 Athina Rachel Tsangari visited Sodankylä with her wild cult film Attenberg (2010). As characterful and as charming is her film Chevalier; a slightly comic depiction of a group of men – once again strongly in the spirit of the Greek New Wave. If Attenberg was visibly categorised as a feminist film, it is clear that the tables have turned now.
Almost grown into its own genre’s sub-genre is this representative of “ship films” in which a dozen masculine men are duking it out on every possible thing that they can. During the boat trip men come up with “manly” challenges and competitions that are familiar to many men; the notebooks of this sextet are filled with notes, egos are measured as well as at some point the lengths of erections…
The manly competitive instinct is really being tested in this absurd race. There’s no need for our brothers to get hurt (as some reviews of the film suggested) considering that Chevalier isn’t ”even” a feminist film. Contextual levels and Buñuel style humour is plenty. While admiring the glorious ship, the cliffs and the great openness of the Aegean Sea, one can also wonder whether Tsangari offers metaphors of the situation in Greece at that time as she depicts competition, use of power, and class distinctions in a poignantly funny way in her film.
Timo Malmi