Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 9, 1993 TAG: 9301090233
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
`CHAPLIN' IS A MOVING LOOK AT A FILM ICON
"Chaplin" is a carefully crafted biography of a comic genius.The oddly somber tone of the film is counterbalanced by some excellent performances and a thoroughly satisfying conclusion. The pace may be too slow for some viewers, but the characters are well-developed and the film has a richly textured look (due at least in part to cinematographer Sven Nykvist) that's not often seen these days.
The structure is conventional. In 1963, the exiled Charlie Chaplin (Robert Downey Jr.) reviews the details of his just-finished autobiography with an editor (Anthony Hopkins). The bookman's questions take the elderly Chaplin back to his childhood and painful memories of his mother (Geraldine Chaplin) and her battles with madness.
The young man's early vaudeville work in England leads to an American trip where he attracts the attention of Mack Sennett (Dan Ackroyd) who is creating silent film comedy. Chaplin, of course, surpasses Sennett, but the film pays less attention to his early professional work than it does to the women in his life.
They were, without exception, young and beautiful, and they got him into considerable trouble. Beyond one sexy bedroom scene, Milla Jovovich causes barely a ripple as his first wife. But Diane Lane, as Paulette Goddard (the third Mrs. Chaplin) and Moira Kelly as Oona O'Neill (number four) are radiant.
Chaplin's romantic adventures and his irreverent politics brought him to the disapproving attention of a young J. Edgar Hoover (Kevin Dunn). But the film is careful to note that the coming of sound to the movies and changing public tastes had as much to do with Chaplin's sagging career as the FBI did.
The script by William Boyd, Bryan Forbes and William Goldman shows us the insecure, driven man behind the Little Tramp. If director Richard Attenborough tries to portray him in the heroic dimensions of "Gandhi," Robert Downey Jr. makes him a real individual. He re-creates some of the famous routines, the slapstick and physical comedy, and he's just as strong in the quieter moments. The scenes between Chaplin and his good friend Douglas Fairbanks (Kevin Kline) are particularly good.
And some mention must be made of one key scene involving the adult Chaplin and his mother when she comes to California. It's a deeply poignant moment, made all the more so when you realize that Geraldine Chaplin is playing her grandmother.
Overall, the film has been faulted by some for not showing more of the joyous side of Chaplin's comedy. That's a fair criticism, but if the story of the man himself isn't as lively and funny as his movies were, it's just as involving, and finally just as moving.
Chaplin: ***1/2
A TriStar release playing at the Salem Valley 8. 144 min. Rated PG-13 for nudity, sexual content, strong language.