Charlie Chaplin. What man was hiding behind the artist?

“The way of life can be a way of freedom and beauty, but we get lost. Greed has poisoned men’s souls, created a barrier of hatred and led us down a path of killing and suffering. We develop too fast, but we shut ourselves down. The machine that produces abundance has left us in abject poverty. Our knowledge has made us pessimists. Our intelligence is cruel and intense…. We think too much and feel too little. More than machines, we need humanity. More than intelligence, we need affection and kindness. Hynckel (a parody of Hitler) said in The Great Dictator’s Final Speech, 1940, “Without These virtues, life will be a life of violence and all will be lost.”

The character played by Chaplin in the film also said that she “didn’t want to be emperor”. But what did the artist who owns one of the world’s most recognizable faces want, or what was he? Where did he “walk”?

Forty-four years after his death, these questions are still difficult to answer. We know he was one of Hollywood’s most famous and loved stars until his scandalous fall from grace. Throughout his life, his “stage” personality and sensational portrayal in the media defined the way the world understood him, but his private life was always hidden behind the heavy eyeliner that marked the character he created. Now, we may be closer to the answers…Never-before-seen recordings, intimate home movies and newly restored classics reveal a side of Chaplin the world has never seen. Narrated “quietly” by actress Pearl Mackie, best known for her participation in the science fiction television series Doctor Who, The Real Charlie Chaplin, in Portuguese The Real Charlie Chaplin, the new documentary about the artist’s life, premiered on February 18 after it passed. London Festival. And although it is also full of questions, such as “Who is it?” , “Why does The Tramp spend so much time looking at us directly through the lens?” around the world, who has grown up outside the vaudeville circle and played the common man in a time of economic struggle?”, directors Peter Middleton and James Spinney set out to try to answer them and share the story that would show us “the impossibility of reconciling his side.” turbulent and sensational innocence on screen.” “Enjoy whatever Charlie Chaplin you are lucky enough to find, but don’t try to associate it with anything you can understand. There is so much more!”, reads a quote by writer Max Eastman, at the beginning of the documentary. In other words, it doesn’t matter how they knew him, which of the characters they would have the opportunity to meet, or whether or not they knew his work in detail… It’s strange.”

the plot Beginning with his poor childhood in south London, The Real Charlie Chaplin follows his first “feats” on the music hall stage and his move to the United States in 1910 at the age of 21. He then reveals himself in some of his work, even “dive” in his downfall, prompted by a paternity claim. Scandal and a mutual grudge against him by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, who spied on the artist because of his alleged sympathy. The Communists called it “Hollywood’s Bolshevik saloon,” and rumored columnist Hoda Hopper considered it a star-studded nightmare. In 1952, Chaplin was exiled from the United States, and spent his final years in Switzerland with his fourth wife, Una O’Neill (the couple married when she was 18 and the actor 54), with whom they had eight children. The documentary includes a never-before-seen audio interview that was recorded in 1983 by the childhood friend of actor Evie Wisdom, and which was discovered by historian Kevin Brownlow. As an introduction to Chaplin’s life, Wes Anderson edited photographs, newsletters, and film clips, while interviews were reproduced in “simultaneous drama and reconstruction”.

The British Daily Mail reported some of the most controversial parts of the documentary, which are the sayings of some of his eleven children. The documentary states that Chaplin was married four times and starred in rumors of affair with more than 2,000 women, many of them minors, the fruit of the silent film star’s recent marriage. “He was so strong… you can’t stand him, because he was never wrong!”

Geraldine Chaplin confirms: “My dad wasn’t Charlie Chaplin. I knew they were the same person, but they had nothing in common – unless he had an audience, then Charlie Chaplin became, someone else.” In turn, actress Jane Cecil Chaplin also recalls that she spent a significant part of her youth just wanting a private conversation with her father: “I grew up with the icon, but the guy? I had no idea about the guy!”, He admitted in the feature film.

According to the international press, much of the documentary still focuses on Chaplin’s various relationships with young women, much younger than him. The production states that the artist’s first marriage was to actress Mildred Harris, in 1918, when he was 29 and she was only 16. And when the two divorced in 1920, she accused him of “psychological violence.” His second marriage was to actress Lita Gray – with whom she starred in the unforgettable film The Kid – in 1924, when she was 15 and he was 35. And they had two children. The end of the relationship in 1927 resulted in one of the largest divorce settlements at the time, valued at approximately $267 million, which equals 235 million euros. Gray accused her ex-boyfriend of “cruelty” and “sexual assault”, while the actor called her a “blackmailer”.

In 1936, Chaplin married model Paulette Goddard, who was 17 when the two met. The two eventually divorced in 1942, and remarried the following year to Una O’Neill.

artist uniqueness For Spinney and co-director Peter Middleton, the prospect of gaining new insight into the aspects of himself that Chaplin had struggled to hide was “too intriguing to be missed”: “From the beginning we knew there was no solid, stable, and reliable version of who Charlie Chaplin was,” the makers admitted. The film in an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian. “He was a perfect chameleon and always portrayed himself in what people expected of him. They explained that he did not identify himself, he always acted.”

“I remember, even as a kid, having a picture of Charlie Chaplin in my head,” Spinney admitted. “Like most people, ‘The Outfit’ has been recognizable to me. We’ve seen these films with many prejudices! It symbolizes the early animation style of cinematic comedy, slapstick, and movies that run at the wrong speed.” According to him, having reconsidered this as an adult, he was “impressed”. He added, “The whole world has an idea of ​​Chaplin, but the people who knew him best found it difficult to relate to him!”

The truth is that Chaplin hated interviews and rarely spoke about himself. In 1966, during his last golden exile in Switzerland, at the age of 77, he agreed to speak for three days with famed journalist Richard Merriman for Life magazine. This recording was in the archives of the British Film Institute and could be recovered by the filmmakers after a year of negotiation with the artist’s family. My mother Hanna spent years in a sanatorium. He remembers Chaplin, the son of two debt-laden music hall performers who broke up when he was three and were sent to the sanatorium, although towards the end of his life he saw success for his children, bringing him back to a little bit of mental health. At seven – a situation from which he later “escaped” due to his natural inclination towards the stage.

“There are over 700 books written about Chaplin. Now it is as if we have listened to his intense memory, understood where his deep sadness came from and can finally understand his dark side better.” “Chaplin directs all his childhood neuroses and insults to the Tramp and throughout his life continues to reenact his traumatic experiences,” adds Spinney. “This character also made him the highest-paid actor on the planet and one of the most famous people in history. It’s almost like a fairy tale. His determination to continue to ‘travel’ inward – the sense of introspection with which he built his art – is what made this structure possible. He is never satisfied with his laurels.” “There is a form in your life that perfectly coincides with your film chronology and we were lucky to have that. But at the same time, we didn’t want to be associated with it in any way.”

The documentary also argues persuasively that his famous closing address in the great movie, The Great Dictator – a direct challenge to the goals of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party – sowed the seed of his downfall. In it, Chaplin delivers an impassioned speech calling for democracy and human understanding. Little did he know that the speech would even reach the leader of the Third Reich, as it would end up contributing to the actor and director eventually having to leave the United States.

In 1977, just over two months after Chaplin’s death in his mansion at Manoir-le-Bains on the edge of Lake Geneva, the sarcophagus disappeared along with the comedian’s body. A young Polish refugee, 24, and Radas, along with Gancho Ganev, a 38-year-old Bulgarian, dug up the body and demanded a $600,000 ransom from Una, the widow. The body was found by authorities, and Chaplin was buried again, this time in a concrete tomb, to avoid further desecration. A shocking epilogue for the genius comedian whose life is, after all, filled with shadows and mysteries.