The Artist (2011) Review

A fantastically phenomenal film that harkens back to the early days of cinema, The Artist tells the story of George Valentin (Jean Dujardin). He is arguably the most admired silent film star of 1927. During the post-premiere of his latest film The Russian Affair he runs into an aspiring young actress/dancer named Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo) which ends up being the springboard to her career. With the advent of the talkies their roles of success are reversed. Peppy becomes Kinograph's new biggest star while George, who rejects and resists the entire idea of talking pictures, fades into oblivion. Peppy attempts to help George as much as she can, even going so far as to convince her producer Al Zimmer (John Goodman) to let George read for a major role. Ultimately it would have to be up to George if he manages to be successful in an era where he doesn't believe audiences are interested in hearing him speak.

The film is the first (mostly) silent film to receive a large release in theaters in over thirty years. I love classic cinema and with that comes a love of silent films. The Artist is as close to extraordinary and perfect a film as it gets. Certainly one of the best films that I have seen in recent years and currently is a leading contender for a spot on my list of my all-time favorite films. There is a massive amount of affection for the films that inspired it and its love of those films is nothing short of brilliant. I must confess that I cannot praise it enough.

The thing about a silent film is that because there is no sound, short of the orchestra, and so your ears hunger for it. There isn't any dialogue actually heard until the last five minutes. In this scene Jean Dujardin says his only two words. Upon being asked by Al Zimmer if he and Peppy can do another take of a considerably complicated dance sequence he replies simply, "With pleasure." When he finally speaks I felt an enormous amount of elation that he does so. It's a wonderful scene where you can celebrate the emotional journey that this character goes through.

Throughout the entire film I got the feeling like I was a member of the audience in 1927. Perhaps it was the aspect ratio of 4:3 which was what was actually used for 35 mm films in the silent film era of cinema. Some films need the aspect ratio of 2:39:1 but The Artist is a film that is made better by the decision of a lower aspect ratio.

I've heard it said that the three most important things for an actor to use are their voice, face and hands. Silent film actors have a particularly larger challenge as they don't have the use of their voice and so they must walk a fine line with their facial expressions and hands. Jean Dujardin's performance fits comfortably with the likes of Lon Chaney, Charles Chaplin, Conrad Veidt and etc. so that you believe that he could have in fact been an actor during that time period. He hams it up if you will just enough without it being gimmicky.

As I said I cannot praise this film enough. It is extraordinary and so much more.

★★★★