The Artist

Michel Hazanavicius (2011)

96min

PG Certificate

Review

Our Score

by Alan Jones

Just like they did in their French OSS 117 spy spoofs, director Michel Hazanavicius and star Jean Dujardin perfectly evoke an authentic period and style in this remarkable re-creation of Hollywood's silent movie era. Filmed in black and white, in the squarer Academy ratio, with only the briefest and cleverest dips into sound (the intertitles are in English), this evocation of Tinseltown on the eve of The Jazz Singer is a film buff feel-good joy. Dujardin's charm (he was named best actor at Cannes 2011 and at the Oscars) is successfully harnessed as matinée idol George Valentin, whose career nosedives with the arrival of the talkies. Meanwhile vivacious Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo), who joins one of his movies as an extra, finds her star rising as the studios look for fresh talent with attractive voices. Embracing the techniques and look of the times, and paying homage to numerous silent classics and Citizen Kane, this loving, warm pastiche is a sheer delight.

Summary

A 1920s movie actor is smitten with a chorus girl he meets by chance, and helps arrange her big break in the film industry. She rises from extra to headline star, but the advent of sound leaves his career in ruins, as he finds himself unable to adapt to the changing nature of screen acting. Oscar-winning silent drama, starring Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo and John Goodman.