The Artist (2011)

The Artist
Director: Michel Hazanavicius
Writer: Michel Hazanavicius
Cast: Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, John Goodman, James Cromwell, Penelope Ann Miller, Malcom McDowell
Part of: Viennale

Plot:
George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) is the star of silent films. At the height of his career, he meets the aspiring actress Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo). Even though they hit it off, their paths lead them into seperate directions: Peppy is drawn to talking pictures, while George doesn’t believe that anyone would want to hear him talk. As talking pictures get more and more popular, George’s star starts to sink quickly.

The Artist’s concept is absolutely wonderful – making a silent movie that laments the end of silent movies. And it’s a beautiful, funny, sentimental, touching and smart film which pretty much makes it perfect.

Jean Dujardin is, to say it with all my rhetorical prowess, like totally woah. He already impressed me in Les petits mouchoirs, even though he was only in it for about 5 minutes. He is even better in a leading role (and what a handsome man he is). I really have to watch myself through his filmography.

But even though Dujardin is an absolute scene-stealer, it doesn’t mean that the rest of the cast was bad. Bérénice Bejo was really good – and she has the perfect silent film/early talkies looks. And of course John Goodman and James Cromwell were great. Penelope Ann Miller was very funny, too.

I loved the concept behind the film and Hazanavicius takes advantage of all its possibilities. When George has the nightmare where everything gets sound, only he is still silent, no matter how hard he tries, it’s one of the scariest, most heart-breaking scenes I’ve ever seen. [It's also something that could probably be a story on its own.]

But the film is not all doom and gloom, quite to the contrary. It’s light-hearted, funny and romantic, too. And in the end you really, really want to watch the films of the era because you don’t want the magical atmosphere to end.

Summarising: There’s not much more I can say about it than that it’s completely fantastic.

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