The Real Charlie Chaplin

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2:09

The Real Charlie Chaplin

2021

1h 52m

Documentary

Biography

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

96%

Tomatometer

45 Reviews

87%

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

From the award-winning creative team behind Notes On Blindness and Listen To Me, Marlon comes a contemporary take on cinema's most iconic figure. In an innovative blend of newly-unearthed audio recordings, dramatic reconstructions and personal archive, the film traces Charlie Chaplin's meteoric rise from the slums of Victorian London to the heights of Hollywood superstardom, before his scandalous fall from grace. Refracting his life through a kaleidoscope of previously unheard voices and perspectives, the film sheds new light on the many sides of a groundbreaking, controversial and visionary artist. For decades he was the most famous man in the world but who was The Real Charlie Chaplin?

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Critics Consensus

Miraculously restored archival materials lend The Real Charlie Chaplin credibility and unique insight, casting a fair look at the entertainer that celebrates his genius while scrutinizing his foibles.

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Kevin Maher

The Times (UK)

The documentary never stays too long on any one persona. It is too busy with ideas and with probing and fascinating argument to bother with something as trivial as “the real”.

Rated: 4/5

Feb 28, 2022

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Kambole Campbell

Empire Magazine

In its search for the personality behind the creator of one of cinema’s most famous comic characters, The Real Charlie Chaplin too often lapses into dreary convention, despite flashes of brilliance in its use of archive footage.

Rated: 3/5

Feb 22, 2022

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Mark Kermode

Observer (UK)

A gripping, clear-eyed overview of his life and works.

Rated: 4/5

Feb 20, 2022

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Geoffrey Macnab

iNews.co.uk

This documentary is full of grim detail, but offers little fresh insight. What it does is showcase his enduring brilliance as a performer.

Rated: 4/5

Jan 17, 2025

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Greg Carlson

Vague Visages

No doubt each new generation will reexamine and reassess the offscreen Chaplin even as the monumental achievement expressed through his body of work will continue to seduce freshly-stunned viewers.

Jul 28, 2023

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Tom Shone

Sunday Times (UK)

You finish the film happy that it fell to Chaplin to be Chaplin, not you.

Rated: 3/5

Feb 28, 2022

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Tom M

Sorting out and separating the character of the tramp from the actor playing him, this is a fairly interesting look at the artist as a flawed individual. The archive audio dubbed onto new dramatic reconstructions doesn't really work. But there was new insight (for me!) about his working practices.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

08/04/25

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Audience Member

It was very nice to see Charlie Chaplin in the cinema - where he's meant to be. It also did a comprehensive overview of an iconic individual without being particularly judgemental or conclusive. But I didn't learn anything new and it had a very slow and repetitive start.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/16/23

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Peter Middleton

Director

James Spinney

Director

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Sarah Lawn

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The Real Charlie Chaplin: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

From the award-winning creative team behind Notes On Blindness and Listen To Me, Marlon comes a contemporary take on cinema's most iconic figure. In an innovative blend of newly-unearthed audio recordings, dramatic reconstructions and personal archive, the film traces Charlie Chaplin's meteoric rise from the slums of Victorian London to the heights of Hollywood superstardom, before his scandalous fall from grace. Refracting his life through a kaleidoscope of previously unheard voices and perspectives, the film sheds new light on the many sides of a groundbreaking, controversial and visionary artist. For decades he was the most famous man in the world but who was The Real Charlie Chaplin?

Director: Peter Middleton, James Spinney
Producer: Ben Limberg, John Battsek, Mike Brett, Steve Jamison, Jo-Jo Ellison
Screenwriter: Oliver Kindeberg, Peter Middleton, James Spinney
Production Co: Showtime Networks, BFI Film Fund, Passion Pictures, Archer's Mark, Smaller Biggie, Film 4, Ventureland
Genre: Documentary, Biography
Original Language: English
Runtime: 1h 52m
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

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