I had come to love Charles Aznavour ever since I was a little girl and saw him in a TV show, Le Chinois (translated from the French, The Chinese), which I really liked. I had come to believe that you can only really ponder on something, and find the answer, if you roll a pair of metal spheres in the palm of your hand. My father is surely responsible for the fact that I learned that Charles Aznavour was not only an actor but also a singer. It only took him once to make me pay attention to the fact that the song on the radio was sung by Charles, and I became a fan.
I always listened to Aznavour with a sweet kind
of melancholy, and I was assured that it was because he reminded me of my
childhood, of a time when I thought that if I could find some metal spheres I
was to be not only a famous detective, but also be able to accomplish anything
I set my mind to.
Over the years, La Bohème would always remind
me of my first trip to Paris (and Zaz's Je veux, of course!) and as the years
went by, the lyrics were no longer just accompanying a beautiful melody, but also
a meaning that spoke to me more and more.
Now, after seeing the movie Mr. Aznavour,
written and directed by Mehdi Idir and Grand Corps Malade, I love Aznavour even
more. It's true, the movie is a masterpiece, the way the camera portrays the
actors, the dialogue, the acting and the remembering or reference to his songs -
not too tiresome or sensation-seeking - make it one of the best biographical
movies.
Learning the story behind Je m'voyais déjà (it
also touched me deeply to learn the story behind the song Emmenez-moi), I felt
pure admiration for Charlez Aznavour's perpetual struggle in his quest for
fame. To be able to believe in yourself when all you get in response (from
critics, from the public) are constant invectives and constant repetitions that
you have no talent, that you don't perform well on stage, that you don't have
the right voice and so on and so forth, is very hard to do, almost impossible
(who knows how many other artists couldn't go through with it and gave up!).
Tahar Rahim, the actor who masterfully plays
Aznavour, has a wonderful line in the movie - from today I will work even
harder, much harder until I succeed.
Of course, hard work can bring you success, but it doesn't guarantee it, that's where resilience comes in, to keep pushing and pushing even if those around you tell you to give up. And talking about success and resilience reminded me of a comment I received for this article - What do you do if your idea is just plain bad? Perseverare diabolicum est (translated from the Latin, to persevere in error is diabolical). Looking back at Aznavour's story, he had far more reasons to give up and he should have stopped long ago, but he persevered.
This is actually the point I make in this
article, neither hard work nor resilience guarantees success. Perhaps what
matters in the end is that you didn't let yourself down, you kept believing in
yourself. Maybe the journey is the most important, and not necessarily whether
or not you achieve what you set out to accomplish. Perhaps what needs to be
first reaped from hard work are the laurels of one's own self-confidence.
