Original subtitles

Why is my heart so light?

Why are the stars so bright?

Why is the sky so blue

Since the hour I met you?

Flowers are smiling bright

Smiling for our delight

Smiling so tenderly

For the world, you and me

I know why the world is smiling

Smiling so tenderly

I have no design for living: no philosophy.

Whether sage or fool, we must all struggle with life.

We who have lived a little longer...

become a little more estranged...

as we journey on our way.

Christmas 1977 has brought sadness.

Early this morning...

with the death of Charles Spencer Chaplin...

the world of films lost one of its greatest artists.

Time isn't that important to me.

I remember him always with a tinge of...

of sadness.

He was a... he was a sweet man.

The happiest thing which happened in his life...

is meeting my mother.

I think that if he'd gone on making silent films...

he would have seemed like a pioneer once again.

He seemed to be happy.

A little bit out of touch, but that was quite charming.

I was always impressed by his humble nature...

by his true modesty...

and by his sincerity.

He really did love his children...

but I had a lot of problems with him...

when I started growing up.

And I think that's because his own, um...

his own background was very different from...

from his children's background.

I was working on a film, and I said...

"My father's dying. Can I go home?"

It was Christmas, so we weren't shooting.

And they said, "No, you can't. You're making a movie".

So I couldn't go home. I couldn't say good-bye to him.

I remember the images...

the sort of dark images...

of the body being put down into the earth.

He had a great life, and I think, you know...

you couldn't ask for anything more.

For my mother, it was completely different.

I mean, she really...

She'd lost someone who, you know...

counted enormously for her...

and she was very...

We were just thinking of her at the time, I think.

We weren't used to having people standing round...

watching us work.

It was at the end, when the photographers turned up...

that it got a bit annoying.

Everything happened very quickly...

so the time you realize it and it can sink in...

And then at the same time...

you have other people coming and saying...

"Now, look, the funeral's done.

"Come and do interviews. Come and do... "

And, uh, it's not nice...

because it's a very aggressive environment.

Three months after the funeral...

the name "Chaplin" was again in the headlines.

The macabre, tragic story had 2 main actors:

a Pole and a Bulgarian...

who dug up Charles Chaplin's coffin...

and demanded $600,000 from the family for its return.

Playing for time...

Chaplin's daughter Geraldine conducted the negotiations.

Finally, the police moved in and arrested the pathetic pair.

That was a nightmare. That was the worst nightmare.

I mean, I don't really want to even remember.

It was a horrible thing to do.

The body snatchers were judged and sentenced.

They had reburied the coffin in a corn field.

Today, the place of Charles Chaplin's second burial...

is marked by a cross and a memorial stone.

At the beginning of the fifties, the Cold War was at its height.

America was in the grip of anti-Communist hysteria...

whipped up by Senator Joe McCarthy.

Chaplin was among those branded as Red sympathizers.

For organizing Communist cells:

holding Communist meetings in his home.

When ordered by the committee...

for investigation of un-American activities...

to prove his loyalty to the U.S.A...

Chaplin replied with cutting sarcasm...

I'm no Communist agitator. I'm an agitator for peace.

The F.B.I. had been watching Chaplin for years...

and the file they had kept on him since 1922...

now ran to 1,900 pages.

In September 1952...

Chaplin and his family boarded the "Queen Elizabeth... "

bound for Europe.

They would never return.

We were totally unaware of anything...

I mean, of the political aspects.

I mean, I was less than 6 years old.

He certainly cast a light also...

on certain anomalies of American existence.

In Europe, Chaplin's latest film, "Limelight... "

received a wildly enthusiastic reception.

But his smiling face in public belied his problems.

A return to America became more and more doubtful.

On the second of December, 1952...

he left London by air for Switzerland.

Among the passengers arriving at Geneva airport from London...

were a very distinguished- looking gentleman...

and his young wife.

The lady was the daughter...

of the celebrated dramatist Eugene O'Neill:

her husband a certain Mr. Chaplin...

none other than the one and only Charlie Chaplin.

Oh, thank you so much.

I don't think so... not at this time.

They've come for a holiday in the mountains...

and are staying till Christmas.

Oh, uh, Christmas.

Soon they set off by car for Lausanne.

This was not Chaplin's first visit to Switzerland.

Between December 1931 and the following March...

he had spent the winter season at the Palace Hotel, St. Moritz.

He was invited to St. Moritz...

by his closest friend from Hollywood, Douglas Fairbanks.

His half-brother Sydney...

who helped in laying the foundations...

for Chaplin's commercial success...

also came to the mountains.

Here, he poses with a Citroën car manufacturer and his family.

The former receptionist of the Palace Hotel...

has vivid memories of his guests.

They weren't much good on skis.

Charlie Chaplin liked the breaks better than the action.

He didn't seem as funny as I thought he'd be...

but he was always friendly...

and gave the impression of sincere cordiality.

Now and again, he'd play a trick.

Once he swore that his great-grandfather...

was named Capelli and came from Oberkuln.

Sometimes he didn't feel like partying...

and he'd fade into the background.

But when he was in the mood, anything could happen.

Once, in front of everybody, he collapsed and lay motionless.

We all thought he was dead.

The doctor was called...

and Charlie suddenly came back to life.

He had fooled us all.

Chaplin liked the discretion and seclusion he found...

in calm and conventional Switzerland.

As early as 1932...

he had told a German journalist that he was weary of America.

I can't imagine living the rest of my life...

in the California sunshine.

This was the time when the Little Tramp...

sometimes felt homesick for Europe.

After landing in Geneva...

the Chaplins drove off to Lausanne the same day.

Only a handful of press reporters and onlookers...

saw them arrive.

When I got to the Beau Rivage Hotel...

the luggage was just being unloaded.

I had a notebook with me...

and when I spotted Chaplin, I handed it to him...

and he wrote his autograph and a little message...

and then I left.

Yves Debraine, a press photographer...

approached Chaplin and Oona outside the hotel...

and recommended a smart restaurant.

They appreciated his friendliness...

and eventually he became the family's regular photographer.

Fifty years later...

Chaplin's son Michael meets Debraine in the same restaurant.

My parents were searching for a house...

not... not having planned to have to live in Europe.

Following Chaplin's exile from America...

Oona urged him to seek a lasting solution.

In the interim...

the family continued living in the hotel for several months.

The Beau Rivage... I remember it as something... as rather sad.

My mother used to sit at the window and look...

and there was nothing.

It was just gray.

The first day that, finally, the other side of the lake...

we saw those beautiful mountains...

my mother was, "Oh, but it's pretty here".

Chaplin looked around Gstaad...

but found the surrounding mountains oppressive.

Above Vevey, and overlooking the lake of Geneva...

he found a 15-room house that seemed ideal...

the Manoir de Ban.

For him and his wife...

and their children Geraldine, Michael...

Josephine, and Victoria...

this house became their microcosm.

From it, he looked out on the world...

and the world came to his doorstep.

I don't actually remember them...

a moment when they told me we wouldn't go back...

but my mother tells me that I was constantly asking her...

"When are we gonna go back to America?"

And, of course, this was quite disturbing for her...

because she knew that we wouldn't go back.

The children lived on the top floor.

My mother and father lived on the first floor.

My mother and father would have breakfast together...

in this room or on the terrace if it was a nice day...

and then my father would start working.

My mother had all kinds of different jobs.

You know, she'd pay the bills...

but as well, she did the menu for the day.

At lunchtime, they would eat together...

and my father would work again.

6:30, he always had an apéritif with my mother...

and then at quarter to 7:00, we would all eat together.

If I think of it now, it was at times a lot of happiness...

a lot of gaiety, a lot of...

And then when my mother was alone after my father's death...

it was a terrible place... spooky, haunted, awful.

The traumatic flight left painful traces.

Chaplin broke off all contacts with the U.S.A...

and the local population was delighted...

that the famous man would be living among them.

I received a phone call...

asking whether Mr. Chaplin could come...

to have his passport photos taken.

Naturally, it was quite an event...

to have Chaplin himself here in my studio.

I'd decided to settle in Switzerland...

and now we'd begun to divest ourselves...

of every tie in the United States.

Oona decided to give up her American citizenship.

To our amazement...

we discovered that the Manoir de Ban has 37 acres.

In front of the terrace...

is a 5-acre lawn with magnificent tall trees...

and an orchard to which, in season...

no matter where we are, we make a special pilgrimage.

Only a short while after moving into the Manoir de Ban...

the Chaplins discovered an unexpected nuisance.

Chaplin came to look around the property...

with the idea of buying it.

It was winter, and there was no shooting going on.

But one day after he moved in...

he realized that the rifle range was very close to his house.

At that time, the army also used the range...

sometimes from 7:00 in the morning...

and Chaplin was very, very angry.

Chaplin complained about the noise...

from the rifle range nearby.

The headlines were merciless.

A year-long legal fight began...

and the legendary defensive readiness of the Swiss...

came out best.

Chaplin had to agree to a compromise.

Later, in his film "A King in New York... "

the noise of firing was the subject of a gag.

This row? Isn't this rather close?

It's the best we could get, sir.

Stick 'em up! This is it!

Let's go.

It went against everything that he thought of Switzerland...

his idea of Switzerland being in peace and quiet.

He even talked about leaving at one point...

selling and moving on somewhere else.

But really, he was... he really loved being here.

He loved this house.

Chaplin explores his new surroundings.

With his half-brother Sydney behind the camera...

he watches the wine harvest festival in Vevey.

After having lunch and sampling the atmosphere...

Charles Chaplin was introduced to the ex-queen of Italy.

Later, the famous actor...

who was apparently a left-hander...

signed the visitors book.

You don't have to decipher the signature to know who wrote it.

Madame Oona Chaplin was also among the guests of royalty.

Charles Chaplin was 63 when he moved to Switzerland.

Despite all his efforts...

learning French turned out to be difficult.

He desperately wanted to learn French, and he really tried.

For the first time in his life...

he found something that he could not do...

because he could do everything.

And he'd wake up at 5:00 in the morning.

He had his Berlitz records and books...

and he'd get up, and he'd go...

He could never do it.

We love Vevey.

We like the people.

They are charming, hospitable, and genuine.

And I think...

that is one important thing in the world today...

that people are genuine and kindly.

Uh, you have a lot of talent in Vevey...

and perhaps sometime I may see fit to put them in a picture.

Thank you, Mr. Chaplin.

He had no plans to stop working.

As soon as he had settled down...

Chaplin started writing the film script...

"A King in New York... "

based on his negative experiences in America.

I could have gone to London...

to watch them shooting "A King in New York".

Madame Chaplin had managed to get permission...

for me to get away from school...

but my father refused to let me go...

because he said he didn't know these people.

"A King in New York" premiered in London.

This film was shown in America only 19 years later.

Michael acted with his father.

When I'd gone to see "The Great Dictator... "

I did an imitation of him imitating Hitler.

And he thought that was quite funny...

and I think that he...

gave him the idea of putting me in the part.

- How do you do, Rupert? - How do you do?

Sit down.

And what's that you're reading?

Karl Marx.

Surely you're not a Communist.

Do I have to be a Communist to read Karl Marx?

Rupert!

That's a valid answer.

Well, if you're not a Communist, what are you?

- Nothing. - Nothing?

I dislike all forms of government.

But somebody must rule.

And I don't like the word "rule".

Well, if we don't like the word "rule... "

let's call it leadership.

Leadership in government is political power...

and political power's an official form...

of antagonizing the people.

What magazine did you say he edits?

For once, I really had a...

a memorable moment of communication with him...

which I don't think I...

It was more intense than anything I had with him...

before or after.

In his self-chosen Swiss exile in 1953...

Chaplin met the Romanian-born pianist Clara Haskil...

and a firm friendship developed.

After a concert with a Hungarian quartet...

my parents organized a reception...

and Charles Chaplin turned up alone.

It was his first meeting with Clara Haskil...

and subsequently...

we were regularly invited to the Chaplin home at Christmas.

And she sat at the piano and played.

When she'd finished...

I went up to her in my naive way and I said...

"But you... you are a very great artist".

And she smiled.

Clara Haskil would come every Christmas for dinner...

with the Rossiers...

and we would have a wonderful American dinner.

And after dinner, Clara would play the piano...

and we would all be... my father would weep.

And then he would show a movie, and Clara would laugh and weep.

And they just... they adored each other.

In 1960, at Brussels train station...

Clara Haskil tripped on a stairway...

and sustained severe head injuries.

A few hours later, she died.

In my lifetime...

I have met 3 geniuses:

Professor Einstein, Winston Churchill...

and Clara Haskil.

I'm not a trained musician...

but I can only say that her touch was exquisite...

her expression wonderful...

and her technique extraordinary.

Four other children were born in Switzerland:

Eugene, Jane, Annette...

and finally, in 1962, Christopher.

With his fourth wife, Oona O'Neill...

Chaplin had found happiness.

My mother, uh, was the backbone for my father, you know.

He depended on her a lot.

She spent more time with us than my father.

She really wanted to know how our life was.

They looked to me like a perfect couple.

He lived for her and she for him.

If he looked at a flower...

she would ask why he did so without consulting her.

She obviously wanted to leave the impression...

that she was a good wife...

which is always very praiseworthy...

because you don't get that feeling very often.

They enclosed themselves...

my mother and my father... in that Manoir de Ban.

That was their microcosm. They lived there.

They lived this great, huge, eternal romance there.

She was totally dependent on him...

and that gradually turned the other way round...

where he was totally dependent on her.

Daddy was the president and the minister of interior.

Mummy was the foreign relations.

My mother used to write us letters.

Even when we were at home...

we'd get a little letter slipped under the door saying...

"I didn't approve of what you've done... "

or "Your father doesn't approve... " or whatever.

But we never actually got together for family discussions.

He was a good father, that's for sure...

but he didn't want to be disturbed...

by noises in the house.

He was a bit looking at his daughters.

The girls were favorites.

Comical Uncle Sydney was always a favorite with the family.

He was a great eccentric.

He lived in America... in California.

He never had a house.

He was a very rich man: never had a house.

He lived in a... in a caravan.

Uncle Sydney would come over at least once a week...

with Aunt Gypsy...

and my father and Uncle Sydney would speak in pig Latin.

And they would speak in rhyming slang.

No one would understand them... the Cockney rhyming slang.

A frequent visitor to the Manoir de Ban was Jerry Epstein...

who produced Chaplin's later films.

Celebrities from all over the world traveled to meet Chaplin.

The novelist Graham Greene was a regular visitor...

to the Chaplins' home above Vevey.

He knew Chaplin for many years...

and it was an on-and-off relationship.

They would meet when my father came over to Switzerland.

Um, I... I expect they corresponded.

We saw a Charlie Chaplin film at the Manoir...

and that was the one about the dictator.

He was very proud to show the movie.

Taking an interest in the Swiss film industry...

he met actress Liselotte Pulver...

the star of a Swiss film classic.

I lost immediately the respect.

I didn't think that he was...

the greatest film director of all time.

And, of course, I hoped that he would give me a part...

for instance, in one of his future films...

but he just signed my script.

He went to the government afterwards...

and when he went away...

I had the impression it's an old friend of mine.

The same day, Chaplin was also invited to Bern...

where he met the federal councilor Philipp Etter.

On a sheet of government- letterheaded paper, he wrote...

Hope I meet you some day.

But it was not to be.

From the corridors of power...

eyes were watching him very carefully.

Just as in America...

pages of notes and observations were being accumulated.

Swiss police officers kept a watch on the actor's home.

Uninvited observers were nearby when, at the Manoir de Ban...

Chaplin received the international peace prize...

awarded by Russia.

This photo was taken by Yves Debraine...

who was a guest at the presentation ceremony.

The Swiss police was in civilian clothes...

and there were a few people there.

The guardians of national security were busy.

The names of all present were carefully noted...

and Chief Inspector Campiche sent a full report to Bern.

I heard that, and I didn't want to read about it...

because I love Switzerland...

and I just think it's so disgusting.

The Swiss federal police are finally observed...

about 900,000 people.

In this context...

you find also the observation of Charlie Chaplin.

I think that his private life...

didn't really been spied out very well...

but only his contacts...

to cultural personalities of the Eastern bloc.

Switzerland's own Knie Circus comes to Lausanne.

This evening, there's a famous performer:

Charlie Chaplin himself.

Or so it seems.

The real Charlie Chaplin is in the audience with his wife Oona.

The fake Charlie Chaplin bows low.

The real Chaplin congratulates him.

He always came with the first trailers...

and the first animals who came to the place.

He was also there.

He looked at the circus... how we put it up...

and he asked us was it new.

"What did you change?"

Chaplin's eldest son Michael...

gets a ride on a donkey given to him by the circus.

His famous father is asked to say a few words.

Tonight, we've seen Chaplin again in the big top.

My father loved the circus...

because I think it's the nearest form of art to the music hall.

He loved circus.

There was 4 or 5 days he stayed around the circus.

He was backstage and the afternoons.

I remember when I was a little child...

he invited all the childrens from the circus...

to have tea and cakes at his home.

And then in this moment...

he always showed us some little tricks from the movies.

Chaplin's silent film "The Circus... "

won him an Oscar in 1929.

It was only in the sixties...

that Chaplin wrote the music for this film.

I say this without any false modesty.

I think it has a certain charm, you know?

A certain charm.

And you have. You have.

During his life, Charles Chaplin composed about 500 melodies:

more than 200 of them during his years in Switzerland.

Charlie's...

was in a unique position...

to be able to hear the music in his head very clearly...

and the orchestration also in his head.

Possibly the most significant influence...

that Chaplin exercised on film music...

was to focus it on song.

He never learned music.

He couldn't read music or write music...

but he would compose on the piano...

with a tape recorder going.

He would have an arranger next to him...

which was Eric James at the time...

and he would write down all the music notes.

On 1...

and they're about halfway through.

When he was writing his autobiography, for instance...

he'd come in and sit. "Look, Oona. Read this".

And she'd read it and she'd say, "Well, I don't like this".

"What?!" And he would get furious and...

but really like a beast...

and get in a terrible state and change it.

After that, I have a notion to make a very large comedy...

what one would call an extravaganza:

an extravaganza.

Um, and it's merely a notion now.

It's... I have several ideas...

but the thing hasn't... hasn't any form at present.

Ysobel Deluz was one of the first...

to work closely with Charles Chaplin in Switzerland.

She was his secretary.

Sometimes it was like a crazy film.

He'd say, "Leave that out... "

and a little later, "Did you get that?

"Did you note what I said?"

I'd say, "No. You told me not to".

He would fly into a rage and shout...

"How can I work if you don't put everything down?"

Chaplin's outbursts of temper could be terrifying.

Ysobel Deluz had a nervous breakdown and was dismissed.

She took Chaplin to court and won.

He had a natural authority.

You had to be extremely careful...

and above all, avoid treading on his feet.

He had a couple of people who left...

and who sued him afterwards:

a couple of ugly, ugly episodes.

However, most people liked to work for Chaplin.

Gabriele Di Rito was his hairdresser for 12 years.

We communicated eye to eye.

He seemed to trust me to do a good job...

and I was happy to work for such a celebrity.

I asked 70 francs for cutting Charlie Chaplin's hair.

Madame Chaplin paid me beforehand...

and then left for shopping.

At the end...

Monsieur Chaplin slipped a 100-franc note into my pocket...

and tapped me on the shoulder.

Very, very nice. Very, very nice.

Charles Chaplin chose his 70th birthday...

to express, yet again, his political opinions.

I feel I am privileged to express a hope.

The hope is this... that we shall have peace throughout the world:

that we shall abolish wars...

and settle all international differences...

at the conference table:

that we shall abolish all atom and hydrogen bombs...

before they abolish us.

The future of the modern world demands modern thinking.

My father had a great talent which not a lot of people have.

He started from nothing and made a lot of money.

But the second thing is, and the hardest thing...

is to enjoy the money they've made.

He'd go traveling. He'd go to Italy.

He loved going down to Italy.

Mr. Chaplin rented the chalet from 1962 to 1965.

When he engaged me, I asked him...

"Have you already done some skiing?"

And he said, "Oh, yes.

"I was in St. Moritz when I was younger...

"and I learned to ski there".

So he said, "Good.

"I'll go in front, and you just follow in my tracks".

He was really very serious: scared of falling.

Not a bit like Charlie Chaplin in the films.

He found that it was a lot harder than he'd expected...

and he had a few dramatic falls, but it was quite funny.

I think he just wanted to show Michael that he knew how to ski.

That was his real aim.

In 1966, shooting began on his last film...

"A Countess from Hong Kong".

He was working with a whole new team of people...

and he was held by a time schedule...

which he never had that problem before.

He would play every part...

and he'd always play it better than anyone.

And with Sophia Loren...

he would be more Sophia Loren than Sophia Loren.

He'd do the part, and he was Sophia Loren.

Did I startle you?

Nothing was done in 3 takes.

It was done again and again and again and again.

It took a lot of...

of energy out of him to make this film.

His own 9-second appearance was explained at a press conference.

Well, in the first place, I'm getting on.

I'm 77 years old.

And I believe that with a certain amount of age...

is something to do with the aesthetics.

Excuse me. Do you mind closing all your portholes, sir?

Yes. It seems to be blowing up out there.

Oh, just a little sloppy... nothing serious.

Yeah.

I've been wondering about the immortality of the soul.

It wasn't really much of a part.

I had to just dance with Marlon Brando, which was...

"Thank you, Daddy".

At the premiere in London, no one knew what to expect.

At nearly 80, was yet another masterpiece possible?

The entire world's press was present...

to see Chaplin's first color film.

Take off those pajamas.

Would that look nice?

You heard what I said. Take 'em off.

Oh, please. My nerves.

- Take them off. - Oh, this is silly.

We'll see how silly this is.

Take 'em off.

Oh, please. Do you want me to call the captain?

What a disaster.

Really, what are we doing?

You'll get off this boat if I...

Who is it?

The British critics judged it a flop.

"A disappointing film from Chaplin," went the headlines.

They were disgusting. They really were.

The critics were disgusting.

It's so easy, also.

He was extraordinarily upset.

I think deep down he knew...

it wasn't exactly as he wanted it.

Yet even here, Chaplin reaped a success.

His composition "This Is My Song... "

the film's theme tune...

became a worldwide hit overnight.

When I was in Charlie's living room...

he was prancing around the room singing...

and me banging away on the piano...

which was a very strange scene.

Um, but it was fun.

And I said to him, you know...

"OK, this is 3 big hits you've got.

"Do you have anything else?"

And he said, "Yes, yes, yes. I have many songs".

And he took them out of some cupboard...

and played some of them to me.

And they were good.

And I've often wondered what happened to those songs.

And love, this is my song

Here is a song, a serenade

To you

The 8 Chaplin children were gradually growing up.

One by one, they left the Manoir de Ban...

and sometimes the partings from the family home...

left indelible traces.

I don't know if I left.

I think I was kicked out, actually.

Well, I say I left.

And Michael certainly left.

When I was 16, I left home. I ran away.

I just couldn't live up to what he expected of me...

and I left without saying where I was going.

And I think it kind of hurt my mother a lot...

and he had a hard time forgiving me for that.

In the sixties and the seventies...

Charles Chaplin received numerous honors.

Oxford University awarded him an honorary doctorate.

Holland honored him in 1965.

He said, "Unfortunately, I've won this prize...

"this Erasmus prize...

"and I have to unfortunately share it... the prize...

"with another person.

"I don't know who that is...

"but I think his name is something like, uh, um...

"Berger.

"Um, something Berger.

"Uh, Ing-Ingman... Ingman Berger".

I said, "No, Ingmar Bergman".

"Oh. Who's that? He's Norwegian, I'm told".

"No, no, he's Swedish".

"Oh, he's Swedish. Oh, yes".

Chaplin and Peter Ustinov were born on the 16th of April.

Ustinov well remembers...

the laudatory speech he made in Amsterdam.

I was called onto the stage...

in order to do my soliloquy in praise of Chaplin...

and the applause was not one...

which would encourage anybody to go on speaking.

I finished, and suddenly...

Tremendous applause, and I looked around.

I said to myself...

"It's impossible that they've all understood the jokes now".

No, it wasn't that.

It was Chaplin was on his way to the podium...

to push me aside and make his speech.

And like a well-trained comic...

he had used me, really...

as somebody to warm the public up.

Chaplin was made an honorary citizen of Milan, Italy...

but despite several applications...

he was never granted honorary citizenship in Switzerland.

In London, his birthplace...

he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth ll.

We boarded the same flight... American Airlines...

from New York to Los Angeles.

He was very happy to see old friends.

He was anticipating a return to where he has been so often...

and he was not nervous...

but he was happily looking forward.

The honorary Oscar awarded for lifetime achievement...

was a late reconciliation...

with the land that had humiliated him...

yet helped him to achieve fame.

Oh, you're wonderful, sweet people.

Thank you.

At that time, a standing ovation was something exceptional...

and the one for Charlie was more exceptional...

because of the incredible warmth everybody gave him.

Up there are clouds in the sky

Oona told me what's happened there onstage.

He was so touched.

He took the hand from Oona and asked her...

"You think they forgive me... the Americans?"

My sister Josephine and I...

I remember we were very, very much against him...

going back to the United States.

We tried everything we could...

to make him not go back to the States, and he went.

And we were so wrong, because it was for him.

It gave him a new lease on life...

when he did go back to the States.

They gave him a visa of only 10 days...

and we thought, "Oh, this is disgusting.

"Oh, Daddy, how dare they?" and everything.

He was thrilled.

He said, "They're still scared of me".

The closest moments I ever had with him...

were when I was grown up:

uh, when I was...

when I was back after I'd started my own career...

towards the end of his life.

Sometimes he'd say, "I love you... "

and that would just destroy me.

Just the "I love you".

He didn't say it often, but when he did, it was...

He had one side of him...

which was certainly someone who enjoyed life...

but he had another side...

which was someone who could get very angry...

and seemed sometimes quite unreasonable.

He was introverted, because he never express himself freely.

He was always on the... kind of reserve...

or kind of self-control.

He was tres anglais: very British.

He was very, very self-absorbed.

He loved the fire.

He would sit in front of the fire winter and summer.

And at the end of his days...

my mother used to try and get him up and get him out:

say, "Come on. You must get out".

And he'd say, "It's my only luxury".

During the seventies...

a silence crept over the Manoir de Ban.

Chaplin was now over 80...

and the man whose youthful charm had seemed indestructible...

was gradually losing his vitality.

Doggedly, however, he continued working.

More melodies emerged...

and the idea for a new film refused to go away...

but his strength was fading.

Well, death comes to us very reluctantly...

and, uh...

life is marvelous.

Right to the end...

Chaplin continued working on a last film... "The Freak".

The manuscript is now in the care...

of the Chaplin archives in Montreux.

Despite his advanced age...

Chaplin continued to believe...

that he would one day direct "The Freak".

We're going to make a picture called, uh, "The Freak".

That's an angel with wink... wings.

My sister Vicki left home...

and he'd written this film for her...

and she really broke his heart with that.

This was the run-up to the first shooting sessions.

Chaplin was reliving the years of long ago...

feeling again the creativeness and happiness of those times.

Sadly, the film was never made...

because he was already very old and easily tired.

In 1977, in Vevey, for the last time...

Charles Chaplin watched Rolf Knie as a clown.

When Charlie came the last time to the circus...

and I crossed the ring...

and from far away he made like that to me...

and that means it's, uh...

it heated my heart.

During the last weeks of his life...

he watched quite a lot of TV.

And it was amazing...

'cause you thought his mind was elsewhere.

A lot was going on in his head...

but he couldn't communicate it, so...

Chaplin's last appearance on film was at home...

during the wine harvest festival.

These silent pictures are shown here for the first time.

Charlie Chaplin back where he began.

No words are needed to remember this great artist.

This is for you, Charlie.

Why is my heart so light?

Why are the stars so bright?

Why is the sky so blue

Since the hour I met you?

Flowers are smiling bright

Smiling for our delight

Smiling so tenderly

For the world, you and me

Love, this is my song

Hello, Dad.

Uh, I know you're up there somewhere...

and I hope it's good up there.

Miss you and love you.

World cannot be wrong

If in this world

There is you

I care not what the world may say

Without your love there is no day

Be well, wherever you are...

and probably see you soon, if I'm lucky.

This is my song

Bye-bye, Charlie. Thanks for your magnificent career.

You too, Charlie.

I'll remember your bowler and your cane...

and your little mustache.

Daddy, don't come back.

Stay where you are, please.

This is not a nice world.

You, who were such an optimist...

and who really thought that things would work out...

don't come back now, but leave the Little Tramp here.

This is my song