Film Review: CHARLOTTE (2021): Animated Film Tells a Harrowing, Deeply Moving Tale

Charlotte Review

Charlotte (2021) Film Review, a movie directed by Tahir Rana and Eric Warin, written by Erik Rutherford and David Bezmozgis and starring Keira Knightley, Brenda Blethyn, Jim Broadbent, Sam Claflin, Henry Czerny, Eddie Marsan, Helen McCrory, Sophie Okonedo, Mark Strong, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Raoul Bhaneja, Julian Richings, Jean-Michel Le Gal, Scott McCord and Tony Nappo.

Charlotte is a well-made animated picture that is about a young woman’s quest to achieve great art in the most frightening of times. Charlotte Salomon was a woman of fierce integrity whose life’s work has truly made a difference throughout history. This film mostly documents her struggles, her internal pains, her artistic flair and her personal desires surrounding the years of the Holocaust. Salomon was a woman who tried to live every day with determination even under the most heart-wrenching of circumstances.

This film’s story begins with a young Charlotte. We get a glimpse of her difficult relationship with her mom. However, the movie also presents an older Charlotte (voice of Keira Knightley) handing over some of her artwork to one Dr. Moridis (Henry Czerny) as if something dire is going to occur.

Charlotte was being home-schooled as a young girl and the audience experiences her turmoil as she must deal with the fact that Jewish people such as herself were severely discriminated against. Charlotte’s dad (voiced by Eddie Marsan), a doctor, was able to shelter his daughter from some harsh realities for a bit. Charlotte’s ambitions propelled her to pursue her artistic aspirations by trying to attend an art school to little degree of success given the time period the film documents and the attitudes that were commonplace back then.

When Charlotte’s father finds himself unreasonably punished, Charlotte leaves Germany and reunites with her grandparents (well-voiced by the great Jim Broadbent and Brenda Blethyn) who have definitely felt the effects of the circumstances they find themselves immersed in.

We also meet Alexander Nagler (Sam Claflin) who Charlotte develops romantic feelings for. While the film deals adequately with Charlotte’s depression and feelings of despair, it also presents a lot of hope through the work that Charlotte achieved as an artist which documented her experiences. Her ambitions were grand as she fought to tell her story through her art for the years before her life was unfairly cut short.

There is a lot of talent behind the animation here. All of the voice-over work is quite effective. Mark Strong serves as Charlotte’s singing instructor, Alfred Wolfsohn, and Strong gives his character the requisite emotions necessary to make the character an effective one. The late Helen McCrory provided heartfelt voice work in her role as Paula, Charlotte’s stepmom. Sophie Okonedo’s Ottilie Moore, an American Charlotte befriends, also delivers well rendered voice over work that helps create dramatic emotion within the film’s plot.

Charlotte is an emotionally devastating story that documents the life and work of a woman who made a significant impact and rose above the circumstances she found herself in to do so. However, it was only a matter of time before she would be taken from us given her passion and persistence during a time when many had no choice but to be suppressed.

Directors Rana and Warin have truly made this film a tribute to the life of a woman who was certainly ambitious in a time where people like her were defeated by their circumstances. Through the display of Charlotte’s artwork, the movie also adds great depth to the powerful story it presents. Keira Knightley’s vocal performance as Charlotte gives the character great subtext and the actress adds another well-defined role to her already impressive resume.

Charlotte Salomon suffered greatly but produced great art which was the gift that she left behind for the world. This movie is to be commended for its powerful scenes of trying to triumph when there is nothing but defeat and hopelessness in plain view. While it’s certainly not an easy movie to watch, it’s one that should be seen and experienced to understand why Charlotte’s life and work should mean so much to us in retrospect today.

Rating: 8/10

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