Although it's long and caring, the outcome of Richard Attenborough's ambitious biography of Charlie Chaplin was perhaps inevitable: bits of film history dully stuck together with famous actors striking poses as other famous actors - but no real life, not even from Robert Downey Jr's carefully considered and visually very good Chaplin. Slowly the Chaplin history unfolds: its facts are interesting, but their presentation sadly lacks the persuasive qualities necessary to attract us to them. Although beautifully dressed and set and professionally made, this remains a pageant rather than a picture, and signalled the end of such ambitious biopics for some time to come.

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