The Artist is a truly unique film in that it is a faithful homage to a lost era of film; the silent film era of the 1920’S. It is not only shot as a silent film, but it captures the same pace and simplistic story lines of that era, while giving us something unique that today’s jaded audiences don’t often see. The film captures everything from the frenetic pace of the acting to the over exaggerated facial expressions required from a silent film. It was a little uncomfortable to watch at first as, if you aren’t a true film historian, it just seems like a quaint relic from the past. However, if you have patience, the story does begin to draw you in and there is enough modern artistic curves to appreciate this as a modern feat of film making.
The story centers around the life of silent film star, George Valentin (cast perfectly with French actor Jean DuJardin). George wonders if his movie star status will begin to fall with the coming of the radical new invention of ‘talkie’ films. George is at first contemptuous of the new technology as a fad, but soon realizes that his days as top dog might be numbered. DuJardin captures the look, feel, and cadence of a 1920’s movie star perfectly. I hope he isn’t overlooked at Oscar time. Even Valentin’s spunky terrier dog is right out of every pet cliché of that era. With an almost Lassie like intelligence, he is Valentin’s constant companion and confidant.
Into this life stumbles aspiring actress/dancer; Peppy Miller (played by the also French Bérénice Bejo). Peppy is young and beautiful and star struck by the debonair Valentin with whom she instantly clicks. Valentin takes Peppy under his wing and sweeps her off her feet. Bejo’s sophisticated European beauty captures the feel of the time as well. Like her name implies, she is full of pep and her star starts to rise after the studio takes a chance on her with Valentin’s insistence.
Studio exec Al Zimmer (John Goodman) breaks it to Valentin that talkies are the wave of the future and it will no longer finance Valentin’s silent endeavors. Full of ego and bravado, Valentin self finances a film that brings him to financial ruin. As Valentin’s star falls, Peppy’s star rises as the darling of the new talking film era. Their roles quickly reverse. Something that is too much for Valentin’s actor ego to accept. He descends into hard times and depression as Peppy desperately tries to help him revive his career.
Like I said, for the typical movie goer, this might be a challenge to sit through. But despite my discomfort, I’m glad this film was made and I applaud writer/director Michel Hazanavicius for taking chances. I also applaud the film studio for producing something this daring in today’s cookie cutter world of movie making. I can’t see this idea going over well in a concept pitch, so it took a lot of courage to give this the green light.
I don’t feel that this is a ‘must see’, but I do recommend it just for its’ sheer novelty. It won the Golden Globe for Best Picture which usually means it will be in contention for the Oscar, but I didn’t feel it rose to quite that level. I would say that if you took away the silent film ‘gimmick’ the story wasn’t all that impressive, but the ‘gimmick’ was what the film was all about. It’s like saying without the special effects, Avatar wasn’t that great of a movie. Well yeah, but come on, Avatar was incredible. Film is a multi tiered artistic expression medium and story is just one aspect.
I give this film *** stars
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