Chevalier (2015) and the rules of the European game

ABSTRACT

This article reads Chevalier (2015, Rachel Athina Tsangari) as an allegory of the Greek ‘crisis‘ following the global economic downturn of 2008. This has been a common theme of the recent Greek 'weird wave’, but the article claims that Chevalier offers a somewhat different approach to politics than that offered by other weird wave films. Informed by the writings of political philosopher Etienne Balibar, the article foregrounds notions of the conflict between the individual and the community, especially of the ways in which the actions and decisions of individuals are usurped by external authorities. The article thus argues that the game played by the main characters in Chevalier offers an allegory of the austerity measures imposed on Greece by the European Union in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Ultimately I argue that Chevalier relates specifically to the conditions of the Greek crisis, but that it also points to the ways in which the European Union, in its current guise, has stifled democracy in favour of a system of rules that limits the possibilities of what Balibar calls reflexive individualism.

KEYWORDS:

• Chevalier (film)
• Greek cinema
• Etienne Balibar
• Wolfgang Streeck
• European Union

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Jameson’s argument has certainly been criticised (see Ahmad 1987), but I adopt the stance taken by Ian Buchanan in his defence of Jameson’s arguments: that it is a crucial act of criticism to assert a relationship between the personal and the political (see Buchanan 2003).

2. Peter Bratsis placed the whole situation in very bold terms by asking, ‘Why are the PIIGS [a demeaning acronym applied to Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain in the wake of the 2008 crisis], like the Greeks, pigs? They are pigs because they cannot control their urges. They cannot refrain from immediate satisfaction’ (Lapavitsas et al. 2010, 301). Bratsis is very critical of these kinds of associations being made in relation to the Greek people.

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Notes on contributors

Richard Rushton

Dr Richard Rushton is Senior Lecturer in Film Studies, Lancaster University, UK. He is author of The Reality of Film (2011), Cinema After Deleuze (2012) and The Politics of Hollywood Cinema (2013).