Charlie Chaplin - Les années suisses (2003 TV Movie) User Reviews

A More Personal Look At Charles Chaplin

[CitizenCaine · 8/10 · 7 February 2009]

This Swiss television documentary features three of Chaplin's children and their personal reminiscences of their father when they lived at his estate in Switzerland growing up between December 1952 and Chaplin's death 25 years later. Geraldine, the actress, Michael, and Eugene Chaplin provide a mixture of adulation, colorful anecdotes, and sentimental quips about their father, entertaining the viewer in simple conversational, garden party fashion. The film eschews the typical Chaplin documentary focuses of his Hollywood career and troubled personal and public lives in favor of his quiet years in exile at his Swiss estate. Some of the locals who crossed paths with Chaplin offer recollections of their brief glimpses of Chaplin. Fellow British actor Peter Ustinov comments about his friendship with Chaplin during his later years. While Petulia Clarke remembers the number one song she had from Chaplin's last film: A Countess From Hong Kong. The song is entitled "(Love), this is my song". Oona Chaplin and Charles are pictured as an oddly paired happy couple with each taking turns depending on each other over the span of their married life. The film ultimately depicts Chaplin as an eternal optimist, continuously adjusting to the highs and lows in his life and leaving a lasting influence on those whose paths he crossed. *** of 4 stars.

Worth seeing for his fans...but awfully short.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 3 January 2011]

For huge fans of Charlie Chaplin, this documentary will probably be a disappointment because it attempts to cover about 25 years of the stars later life in under one hour! While these were not the most productive years in his career, trying to cram these decades into such a tiny film seemed sadly incomplete. And, inexplicably, some of what the film emphasized seemed relatively unimportant and other aspects were completely forgotten. For example, the film interviewed circus performers who barely knew Chaplin and yet never mentioned one of his greatest films that came out at about the same time the documentary was set ("Limelight" in 1952) nor did it explore exactly why Chaplin was hounded as a supposed communist. Instead, the film simply seemed to be family members and ordinary folks who knew him being interviewed--no matter how interesting or important their recollections. On the other hand, as this period of time is mostly a cipher (he was 'in exile' in Switzerland--whatever that means!) and at least it gives insight into what he was doing and what he was like in his later years.

My feeling is that this film would be great to watch AFTER seeing a more detailed documentary about his earlier years--warts and all (such as his penchant for very young women). Seeing "The Forgotten Years" AFTER Kevin Brownlow's fantastic "Unknown Chaplin" would be perfect. Chaplin was a truly gifted genius, but a three dimensional one with foibles and eccentricities--that is the sort of documentary I really want to see.

Charlie Chaplin-The Forgotten Years is a fascinating documentary of the famed silent comic's later years

[tavm · 9/10 · 11 May 2010]

Just watched this documentary of the famed silent movie comic, Charlie Chaplin, during his final years in Switzerland on fancast.com. Because his political views clashed with the prevailing view of the United States government of that time, the once-popular celebrity was blocked from going back to his adopted country (of which he never became a citizen of) and eventually settled, along with his wife, Oona, and their children in the mountainous European country. It's here that we hear his voice during those years and see home movie footage of his various travels and his enjoyment with his family. We also see clips of two of his final films-A King in New York and A Countess from Hong Kong-of which one of his sons, Michael, had a small part in the former and his actress daughter, Geraldine, in the latter. Those two, along with sibling Eugene, provide some wonderful anecdotes of their father in mostly sentimental terms though Michael does admit to some troubles he had as a teenager when he ran away from home. Also interviewed were actor Peter Ustinov, who shares a birthday with Charlie, and singer Petulia Clark, who had a hit song from A Countess from Hong Kong that Chaplin wrote called "This is My Song" which she sings in its entirety at the end. The most touching part of the documentary was when The Little Tramp came back to Hollywood in 1972 to receive his Honorary Oscar and got a standing ovation from the audience as he soaked in the recognition. Also touched was how, like the U.S. government did when he lived here, the Swiss authorities kept an eye on him with many documents in existence though he was never directly threatened. All in all, Charlie Chaplin-The Forgotten Years is a worthy look at the great man's later years as he lived the rest of his life.

Fair Look at Chaplin's Final Years

[Michael_Elliott · 27 November 2010]

Charlie Chaplin: The Forgotten Years (2003)

** (out of 4)

This made-for-TV documentary from Switzerland talks about Charles Chaplin's years there. After pretty much being kicked out of America, Chaplin, his wife and kids moved to Switzerland where the star would live for the rest of his life. The documentary covers these years where we get to see where he lived, some of the issues he had there and get to meet various people he met including various circus performers. There are many folks interviewed here including Peter Ustinov, Sophia Loren as well as Chaplin's kids Geraldine, Michael and Eugene. Overall I really wouldn't call this a good documentary as it was a tad bit too cheap and there was never any real clear focus as to what type of story they were wanting to tell. I think there are much better documentaries out there on Chaplin so this one here is certainly for die-hard fans only. The greatest thing about this are the interviews with his children as they can certainly give us a great idea of what the great filmmaker was like during the later portion of his life. There were some great stories told about how he would spend his days as well as talk about the film THE FREAK, which was meant to be his final work but it ended up never being made. At just under 55-minutes, the film bounces around quite a bit and even starts off briefly discussing his grave being stolen shortly after his death. We even get the grave diggers interviewed!