Aznavour, le regard de Charles (2019)

Directed by: Marc di Domenico, Charles Aznavour | 76 minutes | documentary, biography, music | Starring: Charles Aznavour, Maurice Biraud, Edith Piaf, Evelyne Plessis, Lino Ventura | Narrator: Romain Duris

In 1948 the French singer Charles Aznavour received a 16mm film camera from Édith Piaf. The camera went everywhere with him, and until 1982 he filled many roles. Aznavour filmed always and everywhere. As we know, he passed away in 2018 at the age of 94. A few months before his death, Aznavour reviewed the footage with director Marc di Domenico and decided to make a movie out of it.

‘Aznavour, le regard de Charles’ is the scrapbook of a long career, captured in personal observations with a camera. Whoever sees the first images of a busy Picadilly Circus or Vietnamese stilt houses, sees a talented film maker with an eye for movement. The footage must have been overwhelming in size, a mer à boire for a documentary maker or biographer. Too good to pass up, although the narrator of the life story has the only perspective.

Because of the diversity and quality of the images, and the need for a voice-over (in this case by top actor Romain Duris), this film can hardly be called overdone. Aznavour has a special eye for emigrants; homesickness is an essential part of the film and of its music. ‘Regard de Charles’ is his private life story.

The displaced Aznavours, an Armenian born in Georgia and an Armenian raised in Turkey, arrived in France after hiking through Europe, still made by refugees at this time. On their way to America they settled in Paris, where Charles was born. Artistic parents, who helped Aznavour into the theater as early as the 1940s.

Colleague Piaf soon made the breakthrough; Charles became the French Frank Sinatra, and would continue to perform until shortly before his death. Aznavour also turns out to be a documentary filmmaker with a missed calling, and a respectful accompaniment in old age from a contemporary filmmaker could help him. Is it a form of ghost writing? Perhaps, but who cares.