Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (12A)

A feature-length documentary portrait of the New York-born actor, tracing his rise to stardom from humble origins to become the title character of the blockbusting Superman series. The film combines previously unseen intimate home movies and personal archive material with the first extended interviews ever filmed with Reeve's three children about their father.

LondonNet Film Review

Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (12A) Film Review from LondonNet

Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, Superman first took flight in 1938 on the pages of DC Comics but for many generations, New York-born actor Christopher Reeve was – and always will be – Kryptonian outcast Kal-El and his earthbound alter ego, bespectacled Daily Planet reporter Clark Kent. Reeve was largely unknown in 1978 when he landed the lead role in Superman: The Movie, directed by Richard Donner…

Robert Redford had turned down the part and singer-songwriter Neil Diamond was apparently considered for the Man of Steel before producers took a leap of faith on Reeve, surrounding their fresh-faced lead with established names including Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor and Marlon Brando as Superman’s biological father Jor-El.

A moving and affectionate feature-length documentary portrait directed by Ian Bonhote and Peter Ettedgui relives the glory days of Reeve before and after the freak riding accident on May 27 1995, which left him paralysed and reliant on medical intervention to continue his work on screen and garner headlines as a passionate disability rights activist.

Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story is festooned with intimate home movies including the heart-rending moment when Reeve’s second wife Dana utters the words, post-accident, that he claimed saved his life: “You’re still you. And I love you.” Testimony from celebrities Glenn Close, Susan Sarandon, Jeff Daniels and Whoopi Goldberg offers glimpses of the family man behind the Hollywood glitz but the most moving reminiscences are reserved for a lifelong friendship with Robin Williams, who also studied theatre at The Juilliard School in New York in the early 1970s. “I’ve always felt that if Chris was still around, Robin would still be alive,” solemnly confides Close.

The first extended film interviews with Reeve’s three children, Matthew, Alexandra and Will, about their father pluck heartstrings as they share memories of the man they called Dad but were forced to share with millions of clamorous fans. Lumps in throat are inevitable when youngest son Will reminds us that he was 12 when his father died and he became an orphan before his 14th birthday, losing his maternal grandmother then his actress mother Dana to lung cancer. “A hug from my mom was like being wrapped up by the sun,” Will recalls on screen.

Bonhote and Ettedgui’s film affords sufficient screen time to Reeve’s relationship with British modelling agent Gae Exton and its subsequent breakdown and also illuminates how Reeve repeated cycles of harsh parenting from his impossible-to-please father by skiing far ahead of 10-year-old Matthew and six-year-old Alexandra on challenging slopes. Every frame of Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, expertly edited by Otto Burnham, underlines the personal relationships that prevented the actor from falling victim to the Kryptonite of fame and ambition. Superman made him, mortals saved him.essive concert performances and dance routines. Finn’s script requires misdirection verging on a swindle to pull off one narrative twist but the picture’s final gory chorus is pitch perfect.

– Jo Planter