Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story | London Film Festival Review

It’s always been the cruellest of cruel ironies that the man who will forever be Superman to many would end up spending the latter years of his life as anything but the invincible superhero we all knew and loved him for.

To have the Man Of Steele, in the blink of an eye, reduced to someone so fragile and so physically weak has always felt like a viciously tragic twist of fate. However, this heart-breaking end to a once seemingly impervious life really shouldn’t be how we ultimately remember the late, great Christopher Reeve.

As Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story makes very clear, much like the fact that he had far more to him as an actor than just Clark Kent, he also had far more to him as a man than the one we all saw in the last few years of his life.

Blending never-before-seen intimate home movies and an extraordinary trove of personal archive material – together with extended interviews with his three children and tributes from famous friends – Super/Man is a poignant, vivid cinematic look back at the remarkable story of Christopher Reeve.

Seeing as this film is coming directly from DC/Warner Bros. themselves and considering just how singularly iconic he was in his role as the Man Of Steel, it would’ve been so easy for Super/Man to take the easy Christopher Reeve route and simply celebrate his time donning the cape. Superman is, undoubtedly, the first image the majority will conjure in our heads when thinking of Reeve and it’s certainly how this documentary intends to hook you in, so it is to the immense credit of the film’s directors – Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui – that this really is only half the story.

Super/Man is so much more than the puff piece it initially threatens to be, and as much as it puts itself out there as a bio doc about Reeve’s time as Superman, the real beauty lies in the ground the film covers elsewhere. While not quite a warts-and-all story, Super/Man is nonetheless willing to show the good, the not so good, and the clear weaknesses in the person we all know as the Man Of Steel.

The fragility and fallibility of the man is, unfortunately, a heartbreakingly key component of the Christopher Reeve story and it’s one that Super/Man does well to simultaneously acknowledge, respect, and embrace. The result is a two-stranded tale, focusing on two distinct Christopher Reeve time periods – his Superman years and those following the tragic accident that would immediately and cruelly alter his life forever.

As it bounces back and forth in time, it’s this decision to split the story in two that makes Super/Man so impactful. Weaving smartly procured snippets of archive footage with to-camera interviews from Christopher Reeve’s friends and family, the film is immensely delicate with its handling of the actor’s on and off-screen legacy across two distinct periods of his life.

With one recounting Reeve’s rise to fame and his subsequent struggles juggling stardom with family duties and professional pride, and the other a decidedly more sombre – but no less inspirational – affair, there are certainly big contrasts in tone across the film’s two timeframes. While these tonal shifts may take those expecting an all-out celebratory piece by surprise, for those hoping for more of a well-rounded experience, Super/Man delivers something far more satisfying.

As the more overly buoyant half of the story, the film’s portrayal of Reece’s years as Superman presents someone clearly honoured with being given the opportunity to portray such a pop culture icon, but also one struggling to balance this overnight stardom with his personal life. This half of the story doesn’t quite deliver the devastating emotional punch the second half does, but it nonetheless draws a well-rounded and informative picture of who Christopher Reeve was both in and out of the famous role.

On the flip side, Super/Man’s frequent switch of focus to the heart-breaking fallout of Reeve’s horrific horse-riding injury is undoubtedly the film’s more emotionally potent side, and directors Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui take full advantage of this without ever coming off as exploitative. Tracing things from the moment the accident occurred to Reeve’s rehab to his subsequent advocacy for disabled rights and research, this portion of the story deals a string of tissue-requiring emotional blows while also ensuring that the tone remains as inspirational as possible.

The tragedy is truly overwhelming at times and, in lesser hands, there’s a chance it could’ve buried the rest of the film under the weight of its relentless sorrow, yet the overall tone is ultimately an uplifting one. Leaning into the courage and perseverance of Christopher Reeves as a man, the film quells any tragedy porn fears by injecting a rousing energy that’s positively infectious.

Holding these two sides together, the film’s greatest success is with its to-camera pieces from Christopher Reeve’s friends and family. The words from Reeve’s various famous friends certainly help to give a moving first-hand account of the man’s life (specifically, the comments on his touching, unwavering companionship with Robin Williams), but it’s the interviews with his children that really allow things to hit home.

It’s in these various tributes, testimonies, and anecdotes from Christopher Reeve’s three children – Will, Matthew, and Alexandra – that Super/Man truly delivers, while quashing all fears that Reeve’s story would be exploited or cheapened in any way. You can see why these family members may have been reticent to offer this level of personal insight before, however, it’s a great relief that they were convinced to do so here, as these deeply personal moments are really what ensure Super/Man lands.

A wonderfully inspiring and tragically affecting tribute to the man, the hero, the father, the husband, and the disability rights advocate. Switching back and forth between Christopher Reeve’s Superman days and his heart-breaking, heart-warming post-accident life, and wonderfully sewn together by first-hand accounts from friends and family, Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story is a slick but emotionally impactful recount of a life marked by heroism and heartache.

Score: ★ ★ ★ ★