By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Michel Hazanavicius
Starring: Bérénice Bejo | Beth Grant | James Cromwell | Jean Dujardin | John Goodman | Penelope Ann Miller
Country: france
Year: 2011
Running time: 100
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1655442/reference
Thom says: “This delightful black & white silent film is an out-and-out winner. Silent film superstar George Valentin (Dujardin, Best Actor at Cannes 2011) is worried that with the advent of talkies he will lose his stardom. His marriage is on the rocks and he starts up a friendship with delightful ingénue Peppy Miller (Bejo). His falling out with the Hollywood movers-and-shakers (great to see John Goodman has lost weight in his role as powerful producer) and his attempts at recharging his career are elements of the film. There are so many charming constituents of the film and questions that were gnawing at me during the viewing were answered to an obvious but excellent degree at the inspired ending. The brilliant use of silent and early sound techniques in the photography and script are brilliant. The very occasional use of sound is perfect and shows a real visionary style. All of the actors master the difficulty of silent acting without going too much over the top. Some of the plot turns turn dangerously towards silliness but in the end they seem appropriate for the nature of the film. A real crowd-pleaser. If you enjoy film actors that are dogs you’ll have a field day here as Valentin’s dog steals almost every scene he’s in. 4 1/2 cats”
Bruce says: “Homage has many faces: reverential; tongue-in-cheek; sentimental; intellectual. Michel Hazanavicius employs them all in THE ARTIST, a nostalgic return to the days when the talkies began to eclipse the silent film. THE ARTIST, although set in those tumultuous years of 1927-32, pays tribute to classic Hollywood films released well beyond those dates. Hazanavicius admits to silent film influences as obscure as Frederic Zelnik’s THE WEAVER, Tod Browning, THE UNKNOWN, Fritz Lang’s SPIES, King Vidor’s THE CROWD and Frank Borzage’s 7TH HEAVEN, as well as popular classics such as F. W. Murnau’s SUNRISE. Other influences are obvious: CITIZEN KANE, Nick and Nora (and especially Asta) from the THIN MAN series, A STAR IS BORN, and SUNSET BLVD. THE ARTIST also takes us back to the days when script writing was a high art form.
“As the film opens, George Valentin (Jean Dujardin, winner of Best Actor honors at Cannes) is being tortured. Captions read: ‘I won’t do it.’ ‘I won’t talk.’ ‘I won’t say a word.’ Fitting words for an actor who refuses to audition for talking pictures because he believes the adoring followers of his silent film career will be forever loyal. His suave, sophisticated, and swashbuckling roles have become blurred with his off-screen persona. Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo), an aspiring young chorus girl is among the crowd outside the studio, waiting to get a glimpse of Valentin. She drops her handbag and inadvertently finds herself next to the star himself; immediately she snaps into attention grabbing mode. Photographers are snapping away. Next morning she makes front page news as she pecks Valentin on the cheek. ‘Who’s That Girl?’ the headlines read. What a way to break into show business!
“Peppy is selected to dance in Valentin’s next film and the two share a dance scene that takes way too many takes to be a coincidence. Their chemistry is strong. In months to come, Peppy climbs the ingénue ladder as she gets more prominent billing with each film she makes; meanwhile poor George is put out on the street when Kinograph Studio decides to eliminate silent films. By October 1929 George has mortgaged his future by directing and producing his own silent film. Needless to say, he is humiliated as the crowds flock to Peppy’s new talking film released the same day.
“THE ARTIST is rich in melodrama as the destiny of George and Peppy plays itself out. Triumphs and tragedies lurk around every corner. In addition to the wonderful script, it is the marvelous ensemble of character actors that gives the film its depth. Even the crowd scenes are filled with wonderful, expressive faces which remind the viewer how vibrant and flavorful silent film acting can be.
“The black and white cinematography is luxurious. Although THE ARTIST is essentially a silent film, Hazanavicius cleverly employs non-synchronized sound effects in many different ways. Equally effective is his restraint from using sound, particularly at one of the most suspenseful moments in the film. The making of THE ARTIST was a huge risk-taking endeavor. The result is refreshing and exhilarating – a perfect homage. 5 cats”
Jason says: “Look back through my reviews here and my blog, and you’ll see that THE ARTIST had a better-than-usual shot at appealing tome: I go to most any silent movie that plays the local repertory houses, and liked the OSS 117 movies that director Michel Hazanavicius and star Jean Dujardin did together (particularly the first, which also paired Dujardin with his co-star here, Bérénice Bejo). I’m not saying to take my opinion with a grain of salt, though – Hazanavicius doesn’t rely on nostalgia or previous goodwill, but creates a movie that captures the delights of the silent era perfectly while acknowledging the inevitability of its end.
“The film opens in 1927, with the Hollywood premiere of the new film starring George Valentin (Dujardin), a star of adventure movies in the Douglas Fairbanks mode. It’s a smash, and while he’s holding court on the red carpet, a young lady accidentally winds up on the wrong side of the velvet rope, winding up on the front page of Variety with the headline ‘Who’s That Girl?’ She’s Peppy Miller (Bejo), and she bumps into Valentin again when she gets chosen as an extra for his new movie. Her beauty and charm soon have her moving up the ladder, while Valentin’s refusal to even consider talkies has him headed for a rapid fall.
“After a set of retro-styled opening credits, Hazanavicius opts not to mince words, with Valentin’s on-screen alter ego yelling ‘I won’t talk!’ at a mad scientist, followed by a ‘No Talking’ sign as the action moves to Valentin waiting behind the movie screen for his introduction. It’s an instruction he will mostly hold to, as he and cinematographer Guillaume Schiffman shoot the film in a period-appropriate squarish frame (see it on your town’s narrowest screen!), in crisp black and white, with dialog delivered via inter-titles and Ludovic Bource’s score tasked with implying sound effects. The filmmakers display incredible affection for this 1920s style of filmmaking, only rarely doing things that couldn’t have been done at the time and never stooping to parody – once they’ve decided to make a silent film, they know that they can’t break the rules lightly.
“That’s not to say that they don’t break the rules, just that when they do so, they do it in as flawless a way as they adopted those rules to begin with. Hazanavicius and company know their stuff, and perfectly sidestep things that trip up many contemporary pastiches. There’s only as many inter-title cards as the story requires, for instance; once they’ve established why two characters are yelling at each other, the intensity of the argument is what matters, not the specific words. There’s a pivotal scene that could have felt ridiculous even if it were in the gothic melodrama where it seems to belong but which instead allows the audience to not only get the reference but enjoy it completely without irony.
“Most importantly, though, Hazanavicius does a spectacular job of balancing comedy and drama, realism and fantasy, innocence and heartbreak. It’s a very funny movie that never strays too far from its dramatic core, and is able to engage in nostalgia without elevating the past over the modern (it’s similar to Hazanavicius’s OSS 117 movies in this way, though with a much less mocking tone). As much as it chronicles an often-bitter fall from grace, its humor is almost never mean-spirited; it doesn’t ask the audience to derive joy from Valentin’s suffering and gets a lot of laughs from the antics of his loyal terrier – and having the dog around makes us more willing to forgive Valentin’s selfishness and egotism.
“Uggy The Dog is a shoo-in for Best Supporting Canine, and the human supporting cast is nifty as well: Missi Pyle, for instance, is a great choice for one of Valentin’s co-stars – she’s only there briefly, but she’s great at doing silent comedy without it being slapstick. I almost wish Penelope Ann Miller was as demonstrative as Valentin’s wife Doris; it can’t be a lot of fun to get cast in a silent movie and have little to do but look sour. John Goodman (as a studio executive) and James Cromwell (as Valentin’s loyal butler/driver) are both excellent – the parts fit them like gloves, and knowing their voices doesn’t detract from the illusion at all.
“Many Americans likely won’t have that sort of familiarity with the leads, and maybe that will feel like a positive, letting them become forgotten stars from the early days of cinema. Both are kind of wonderful in these roles, with Bérénice Bejo giving Peppy the expansive, larger-than-life confidence and magnetism that makes her rise seem inevitable as well as just nailing all the physical details, like the very specific way fashionable young ladies in silent films walked. Jean Dujardin, meanwhile, gives George all the pride that the screenplay points out as his downfall – both as a tragic flaw and as a funny tendency to enjoy the limelight. They’ve got a great chemistry together that goes beyond setting them up as a potential romantic pairing – just watch a great scene on a staircase where George has to swallow a great deal of anger and bitterness in the face of her enthusiasm; it’s amazing to see just how great the pair are even with a few of their normal tools not available.
“Now, I don’t know if THE ARTIST will ultimately appeal to people who don’t already go for silent films. It should – it’s both a loving salute to and a fine example of the form – but people can sometimes balk at the unfamiliar. Hopefully they’ll give this a try anyway; it would be a delight even with sound and color, but recreating this era makes it something really special. 5 cats
“Seen 15 November 2011 in Coolidge Corner Theatre #2 (IFFBoston Presents)”
Diane says: “Even reviews that don’t praise THE ARTIST to the skies praise it at least as high as the Woolworth building, so it must be a great film. And yet, I didn’t like it. I grew less and less charmed as it went on. THE ARTIST has a thin story lacking propulsion–typical, I suppose of ’20s silents, a disregard for anachronistic dialogue and gestures (a result of improvisation?), and an ending that deflates the film. I was disappointed that the director or d.p. chose the lighting and lensing quality of a later era. On the other hand, Bejo, Dujardin, and Uggie are delightful actors. 2 cats”
Toni says: “I have to agree to disagree here. Once in a while, I think we need a cleverly shot and set film out there that can potentially reach beyond film snobs and shys away from Zoey D. songs in its score but I admit that perhaps the film would not work for everyone. Even the smaller roles like from Beth Grant as Peppy’s maid were well done… in addition to the simple yet beautiful story and production design and cinematography and the lighting were a great take on the period as was the score…I stick with my 5 big Jack Russell terriers on this one. Again, it is good though to see opposing views on films. I had similar experiences with TTSS this year. 5 cats“