Review of Chaplin (2011) by Iain B — 14 Feb 2011

Told in retrospect through the plot device of the elderly Chaplin's conversations with the editor of his autobiography in Switzerland, 1963, Chaplin follows the life of Charlie Chaplin from his early career on the Vaudeville circuit in London, through to the establishment of his career in Hollywood with Mack Sennett and his rise to celebrity status.

The film follows also Chaplin's lifestyle in the Hollywood glitterati alongside his contemporaries Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, his various romantic liaisons and his eventual exile from America.

Alongside Ghandhi, Chaplin is one of Lord Attenborough's more well known bio-pics and with good reason. He captures the feel of Chaplin's life with an acute visual attention to detail, from the squalor of his childood in London, through the glamour of the Hollywood years and to the quiet solitude of his years in Switzerland.

There's a school of thought where people think that a clown has to have an air of melancholy within him and Robert Downey Jr delivers an appropriate level of humour mixed with melancholy as Chaplin. He can be funny, he can be charming - but his portrayal shows the man behind the clown make up who has a need to be loved - whether it be by his friends, his audience or the various women he becomes attached to.

Of the supporting cast, all of whom are excellent in their various roles as they move in and out of Charlie's life, the most memorable of these is Kevin Kline in his portrayal of Douglas Fairbanks. Kline captures the glamour of Hollywood's Golden Age with his devil may care attitude and over the top party boy attitude.

The script is, on the main, a very good script. However, there are a couple of areas where there are areas which could have done with tightening up.

Firstly, due the timeframe involved with the film - from the 1890's to the 1970's, some areas of the film can appear to be a little antiseptic and do not have the emotional punch that's really needed.

Secondly, and this does appear to contradict what I have just said, but there are points where the film tries to use film related tricks to be "romantic" and artificially put in emotion - such as the scene where Charlie first selects his tramp costume and the scene where Charlie has to smuggle one of his films out so that it doesn't become an asset in a divorce litigation.

That said, this is a very good film and a fitting tribute to one of the 20th Century's greatest movie icons.