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Review - The Artist (2011)
The sky could be the limit for this refreshing crowd pleaser from French writer/director Michel Hazanavicius, which may well have Oscar glory in its sights and might be the movie to finally shift Its A Wonderful Life from the US Christmas TV schedules. This was a late entry to the Palme d'Or competition at Cannes where it was beaten by Terence Mallick's Tree of Life. It has subsequently been nominated for European Film of The Year and won the Official Audience Selection at the 2011 Leeds International Film Festival.
Jean Dujardin is well cast as George Valentin (thinly disguised as silent movie star Rudolph Valentino) whose career suffers drastically with the advent of combined movie sound and vision in 1927 (The Jazz Singer) which changed movies forever, or at least until now anyway. The director's wife, Berenice Bejo is also good as up and coming starlet Peggy Miller, possibly based on early talkie favourite Norma Shearer, who makes the most of a photo opportunity with Valentin and becomes an extra on the set. Valentin is struck by her and helps her become established, before her career sky-rockets with the public's insatiable appetite for sound.
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John Goodman is excellent as movie mogul Al Zimmer who quickly shifts all future film production to include the new medium, rendering Valentin redundant. When Valentin's first independent silent feature gets the same release date as Zimmer and Miller's next production, the death knell is sounded on his career. James Cromwell is good support as Valentin's loyal chauffeur, who is eventually forced to jump ship, as Wall Street crashes and Valentin hits skid row.
Canine support comes from Uggy, Valentin's faithful terrier, and Palme D'og winner, who provides some funny moments, but amongst the humour there is plenty of pathos. The film is not overly sentimental and the characterisation is powerfully portrayed and sympathetically acted - as well as deliberately over-acted at times, to reflect the difficulty of keeping audiences informed as to how the characters are feeling when there is no sound. Since this is itself a silent movie, there are constraints as to how complicated the plot can be, as we are reliant on title cards rather than dialogue. Valentin provides the melodrama, whilst Miller's character is less exaggerated, again providing an interesting contrast.
Despite being a silent film, there are a couple of great sound gags. One is in a dream sequence, and another in the last reel of the movie. The subtext is about loyalty and pride. Miller is keen to repay the loyalty Valentin showed her when launching her career, but Valentin's pride prevents him from accepting her help. Eventually a compromise is made and the movie has a great ending as Zimmer and Miller come up with the next major fashion trend in the movies. In one sequence, Dujardin and Bejo remind us of Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds in the fabulous Singing In The Rain, which is also about the switch from silent movies to talkies.
10/10 Hugely Entertaining