Often historical re-enactment movies luxuriate in beautiful historical costumes, panoramas of palaces with ornamental gardens, accompanied by a beautiful musical soundtrack.
There was definitely some nice music in this movie, but the feel was cramped. The streets were narrow and crowded. The theaters and other rooms were small and also crowded. Rooms were small -- except for the home of the Chevalier.
Strangely, the black people congregating in a narrow street, presumably slaves, seemed clean and well-dressed, while normally such people are portrayed as ragged and dirty.
The white women were mostly super skinny, with very narrow noses, and so emotional that they often seemed spazzy. I wonder if they were a black person's stereotype of what white women look like.
The idea that a super-skinny woman with a tiny rib cage would be a better singer than a fat woman seems pretty far fetched. Fat opera singers really tend to be the best. Look at Jonathon Antoine, Pavarotti and Monserrat Caballié.
By contrast, the protagonist and his mother had a warm soulful faces and normal sized bodies..
I was distressed to see that Napoleon destroyed a lot of Bologne's music. I wonder what is left and what was lost.
They only showed Bologne as favoring the French Revolution, but they don't show that he was initially imprisoned as a suspected friend of Marie Antoinette.
The affair between Bologne and the Marquises is not mentioned in the Wikipedia article -- nor is the murder of Bologne's son. I wonder if that was real, or added to enhance the story.
In general, this movie is directed at being upsetting and showing the racism that Bologne encountered -- some of which I suspect was made up for effect -- rather than Bologne's substantial accomplishments.
Now here's a historical video about Bologne from 2 years ago. This video says that Bologne's father and mother lived together in France.
The movie showed her coming to France after his father's death.
This video also says that there were no other competitors for the Paris Opera slot, while the movie has him competing with a less skilled white man, who wins when the staff complains. In the movie, there was an opera writing contest to decide who would run the opera.
In the movie, Bologne won the contest, but was forced out. In the video, it says that he withdrew his name and the seat remained empty.
The video also portrays Mozart as learning from Bologne, while, in the movie, Mozart is an established composer, and Bologne as coming up on stage to compete with him.
Listen to some Bologne
I've listened to several of his pieces now -- and find them unfailingly delightful.
