Sundance has long-held a reputation for being an Oscars bellwether. Whether with music (Summer of Soul), sport (Icarus) or politics (Navalny), the snow-capped festival has served as a vital launch pad for the best in documentary. Super/Man, then, is in very fine company.
Crucially, this film pulls no punches with its subject, in spite of – or rather, because of – the Reeve family’s involvement. Aside from the man’s sudden rise to fame at 25, and the horrific horse-riding accident that left him paralysed some 20 years later, there is much here that feels candid and revealing. His now-adult children share insights only they could know.
Christopher Reeve was the world’s first blockbuster superhero, widely viewed as a good guy – who, conversely, gained a reputation as a serial dater, a player shy of commitment. Driven to succeed (to try and win over a cold and indifferent father) and passionate about his craft (transforming the role of Superman into a work of art), Reeve was a bundle of complexities: a man longing for stability, having grown up with none, only to abandon his own family as his stardom grew. Hearing his eldest kids talk of growing up with an absent father is heart-breaking. As is Reeve’s initial indifference to the spinal injury community, which he later transformed.
It’s a rich and intensely moving experience
These are very human qualities, of course, which make the man feel relatable, likeable even. In spite of such flaws, he was able to finally embrace fatherhood, marriage and his disability, admitting these were much-needed positives after his ordeal. Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui’s intimate film accesses piles of personal testimony and private archive to convey all this, while punctuating the story with abstract sequences (of an out-of-this-world stone sculpture of Reeve) to make it feel artful and measured.
There are plenty of film clips, too, to remind us of Reeve’s theatrical roots, his innate love of arthouse cinema, and his obsession with flying. When colleagues like William Hurt accuse him of selling out to play Superman, he vows to prove them wrong.
What the film does exceptionally well, above all else, is to portray the Man of Steel as a fallible family guy – an immensely gifted and passionate actor, activist, father and husband, who wanted to do the right thing, and ultimately did. It is a rich and intensely moving experience.
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story premiered at the Sundance Film Festival