By telling in a very linear way the life and career of Charles Aznavour, the directors Grand Corps Malade and Mehdi Idir sign, with Mr Aznavour, a conventional biographical drama with no surprises. But the masterful performance of Tahar Rahim in the skin of the sacred monster of French song is worth the detour alone.
Recently released in France, where the film achieved great success in theaters (nearly 2 million admissions to date), Mr Aznavour traces the journey of the singer of bohemian et Take me from his childhood in Paris, in a modest family recently emigrated from Armenia, to his death in 2018, at the age of 94.
The first part of the film – the most interesting, in our opinion – relates the singer’s difficult beginnings in cabarets with his first stage accomplice, Pierre Roche (Bastien Bouillon), as well as his meeting with the great Édith Piaf (Marie-Julie Baup), who took him under his wing during this period when the young singer-songwriter was struggling to make ends meet.
We also discover in the film that it was Piaf herself who advised Aznavour and Roche to try their luck in Montreal, at the end of the 1940s. The two accomplices ultimately spent two years singing on the stage of the Au Faisan Doré cabaret, at the corner of Sainte-Catherine Street and Saint-Laurent Boulevard.
Less well developed, the second part of the film focuses more on Aznavour’s years of glory, marked in particular by the recording of his greatest hits, his international triumph and his meetings with Frank Sinatra and Johnny Hallyday, between others.
Reconstitution
Photo Sphere Films
Grand Corps Malade and Mehdi Idir worked closely with Aznavour’s family and it shows. The legendary singer’s gray areas have only been touched upon, as has the tragic episode of the suicide of his son Patrick in 1976.
On the other hand, we must salute the meticulous reconstitution work carried out by the two directors to recreate the different eras crossed by the film, in particular Paris in the 1950s.
The main attraction of the film, however, remains Tahar Rahim’s masterful performance. The actor who took intensive singing lessons to be able to interpret Aznavour’s songs himself has done colossal work to embody this monument of French song. He is simply “for me formidable».
Related News :