‘Le regard de Charles‘ is a very special biographical documentary. In 2018, a few months before his death, Charles Aznavour shared a secret and a treasure with his friend, the filmmaker Marc di Domenico. It was a few dozen hours of filming, filmed by himself between 1948 when Aznavour was still an anonymous young musician and 1982 when he had become one of the most famous singers on the planet. His first camera had been a gift from Edith Piaf, and it had been his traveling companion for more than three decades on his touring trips. Aznavour died on October 1, 2018. Marc di Domenico directed and released in 2019 ‘Le regard du Charles‘ (the English title is ‘Aznavour by Charles‘) conceived together with the singer and his friend, a testimony and a document about the artist , about the people around him and the world he lived in, as he saw them through his portable camera.
Charles Aznavour‘s voice in the film is that of actorRomain Duris. The text is based on his notes, testimonies and interviews. He considered his success to be due to the audience, the love with which he was surrounded, the eyes of the spectators who came to see him and listen to him in concerts. But he, Charles Aznavour, also looked at those around him, he observed them with endless love and curiosity. Charles’s gaze surprised the world and recorded it on film, in all its complexity. He associated the people he met and the situations he perceived with his own biography as a child of an Armenian emigrant, born shortly after his parents arrived in France, deeply French without ever forgetting his roots and history, in solidarity with those who were in danger or needed help. The trip to Armenia in 1964, for the first time in his life, at the age of 40, is one of the emotional moments (and there are many) in this film, another is the evoking of his son Patrick, who died at the age of 25, the kid who had learned Armenian to get closer to his father and the roots of his family. How well suited to Charles Aznavour is ‘Le meteque’, the song of another great French musician of foreign origin, Georges Moustaki. The city where the Parisian singer confesses that he feels best in the world is New York, the city of immigrants from all over the world, the city inhabited by people who were all born elsewhere but where everyone feels at home.
Charles Aznavour‘s portable camera captured documentary footage in different parts of the world. They may not be the most original or unique images in the history of documentary, but they are significant for the curiosity of the traveler who thrived to know not only planes, airports and hotels (probably more and more comfortable as his reputation and material possibilities increased), but also the streets and lives of the people in those distant places. Also appearing in the film are the women who were important in his life, the three wives with whom he successively shared life at different times. He has beautiful memories about each of them, he has words of love for each of them. Above all, however, he also has music to share, and the soundtrack is composed of 25 of his songs, including the most famous ones, which have won the hearts of people around the world. From time to time the camera is entrusted to others, and we can see the face and silhouette of the human being who was Charles Aznavour and whom this film helps us to know even better. For those who admired and loved him, the longing for Aznavour will only be intensified by watching this exciting documentary.