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

88%

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)

Feb 28, 2022

4/5

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”.

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Kambole Campbell

Empire Magazine

Feb 22, 2022

3/5

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.

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Mark Kermode

Observer (UK)

Feb 20, 2022

4/5

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

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Geoffrey Macnab

iNews.co.uk

Jan 17, 2025

4/5

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

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Greg Carlson

Vague Visages

Jul 28, 2023

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.

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Tom Shone

Sunday Times (UK)

Feb 28, 2022

3/5

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

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israel K

@RT86999628 Jun 26, 2026

During my research after watching and enjoying this movie, i found out that, it was made in 1940 when Adolf Hitler was at the height of his power. The movie tells about the human dignity and the value of every person. What is remarkable is that it still resonates even more in 2026. I believe that Charlie was and will always be a greatest comedic actor of all time.

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Tom M

@RT77934561 Aug 4, 2025

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.

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Feb 21, 2022

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.

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Peter Middleton

Director

James Spinney

Director

Charlie Carter

David Gill

Sarah Lawn

Reporter

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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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