A warts-and-all (or should that be moustache-and-all) account of the life and times of a cinematic legend whose grand hijinks thrilled and scandalised the world.

Three key sources – a rare audio interview from the 1960s, a recorded conversation with a childhood friend and a 1947 press conference – form the core of this expansive and entertaining documentary from the directors of the award-winning Notes on Blindness (MIFF 2016). Alongside dramatic recreations that seamlessly use mimicry and mime, plus reels of illuminating archival footage, the film traces Charlie Chaplin’s career from his early days in the Victorian-era London slums and the invention of his famed character The Tramp, to his meteoric rise in Hollywood and the political and interpersonal controversies that plagued him.

Encompassing comedy, art and geopolitics, Peter Middleton and James Spinney’s rendition of Chaplin’s story is both captivating and compellingly tragic, revealing a man who – to the end – withheld an inner turmoil. Screening to acclaim at the Telluride, Zurich and London film festivals, The Real Charlie Chaplin is a must for lovers of the silent-film era and for those interested in seeing the messy truth of lives behind the spotlight.

“Chaplin was a charmer and a scoundrel, a sweetheart and a monster, not to mention a celebrity of scandalous appetites. All of that is covered, quite ingeniously, in The Real Charlie Chaplin.” – Variety