M, 134 minutes

3 Stars

Review by © Jane Freebury

It was a long, hard road for Charles Aznavour, the French-Armenian singer-songwriter who became an international superstar. In this story of his private and public journey, showcasing songs for which he became famous, we leave off a few frames short of the peak of his entertainment career. We don’t really need to go there.

Success as a troubadour is saved for the postscript, with interviews and sellout concerts around the world referenced in archival footage. After all, many people today will still remember him and the impact of his beautiful, soulful songs of regret and loss and times past. Aznavour died seven years ago at 94, not long after a concert in Japan that would be his last performance.

The two French writer-directors, Mehdi Idir and slam poet Grand Corps Malade, who courageously took on this formidable task, had to find their way through a massive archive, including two autobiographies, during pre-production. The amiable French-Algerian actor, Tahar Rahim, in the lead role, was also challenged. Although the part of Aznavour is likely closer to type than the hard-headed inmate he played in A Prophet, he had to learn how to sing and dance to master his role. Any which way, Aznavour was a hard act to follow.

There is so much to say about the man. The child of refugees who left school early, then took to the stage, discovered he could write songs and became one of the biggest names in popular music. He wrote around 1200 songs, many performed by other top artists, and that’s more than Dylan. And he also appeared in hundreds of movies, small parts in large part, that he somehow found the time for. There is a star on the walk of fame in Hollywood that bears the name of this legendary entertainer.

Aznavour is a hard act to follow

It is hardly surprising to learn that the young Aznavour (impish Norvan Avedissian plays him as a child) was a lively boy, who thrived on performance. Despite his parents’ struggle to survive during the war in France under the Nazi occupation, he still seemed to retain some of that cheek and humour into his adult life. There is a backstory of dispiriting poverty and disadvantage, but the family were a close-knit and loving unit. Charles’ father, an expansive character who loved to party and avoid paying the bills, knew how to make life fun.

Aznavour maintained a close relationship with his sister, the elder by one year, who was a constant presence throughout his life. Every now and then there’s a brief scene of Charles talking to Aida (Camille Moutawakil) over the phone. They may have been continents apart but he could find reassurance in her confidence in him and her positivity. In the narrative here it becomes a motif, as Aida’s voice can be heard reassuring that all will be well.

 A handsome, richly detailed portrait of a legendary French crooner

Other relationships, intimate and professional, come and go. The partnership with Pierre Roche (Bastien Bouillon) when they performed at cabaret on a double bill, set Aznavour up. Then Edith Piaf stepped in, urging Aznavour to go solo in his career and to split with his wife, in a single-minded pursuit of career that can also be seen as callous.

It is interesting to see the influence Piaf (a terrific Marie-Julie Baup) had on him.  She recognised a fellow traveller in Aznavour, someone with hustling ways and singular talent, who had also grown up on the street. He’s the ‘real thing’, she declares, praising the raspy voice that some critics had panned. It was a rich and husky tenor, like an American jazz singer, and if he’s short, well so what?

It is rather shocking to hear of the treatment Aznavour received at the hands of critics in the early days about being small in stature or unconventionally attractive or having a raspy voice. Just genuine qualities from where we stand today. Did the criticism see off his gentle, funny side so engagingly portrayed by Rahim, before the entertainer developed a mechanical determination to write a song a day, proving all the detractors wrong?

It’s here that Aznavour appears in his least attractive light. Determined to succeed and impatient for fame, to a fault. It leaves a lingering impression, when more attention on his creative qualities would have done better service to this handsome, richly detailed portrait of a legendary French crooner.

Published in the Canberra Times on 9 May 2025 and on Rotten Tomatoes

 

Featured image: Tahar Rahim as Aznavour, courtesy Palace Films