The Artist

As I sat and watched this film, I was more in a state of admiration than anything else.  This is a movie that obviously took a tremendous amount of work as well as a unique vision.  As I watched, I was also reminded of countless other movies.  There is so much borrowing in this movie from other movies that one knows that the director has tremendous affection for classic films, both silent and talkie.  At the same time, though I liked it, I couldn't help but think that some of the reason that so many accolades have been heaped upon this film is its novelty.

The plot reminded me a lot of "Singin' in the Rain", though it is quite a bit darker.  It follows a silent film star George Valentine (Jean Dujardin, who won a best actor Oscar for this performance) who is caught in that fateful time in which films made the transition from silent to talkies.  As such, it threatens his livelihood.  At the same time, a chance meeting with a young fan named Peppy (Berenice  Bejo ) leads to increased stardom for her.  Their careers end up being inversely proportional-as her star brightens, his star fades.  He decides to direct another silent film, but two things happen that seal his fate.  First, his film opens on the same day as Peppy's debut.  Second, the stock market crashes the day his film debuts, and he loses his wealth.  This leads to poverty and despondency for George.

The film ends up being an affectionate tribute to classic Hollywood.  As such, I think it stands on the shoulders of other films much better than it stands on its own.  The narrative of the film was not terribly strong to me, but the novelty of a silent film released in 2011 was a strong presence.  From a purely technical standpoint, it is a wonderful film.  It achieves a look that looks like the genuine article.  The actors in the film (well known 21st century actors like John Goodman, Penelope Ann Miller and James Cromwell) look like actors from the 1920's.  The actors in the film do an amazing job of dancing, and the physical comedy is first rate.

I suppose it is impossible to duplicate what Lloyd, Chaplin and Keaton (as well as so many others) achieved.  The constraints of silent film making allowed those artists to thrive within the boundaries in which they found themselves.  It would be hard for anyone to do that again, because the same atmosphere does not exist. With that in mind, this movie can be seen as a brilliant execution of nostalgia, but it does not quote achieve what the classics did.  It is not trying to do that, and that is both its greatest strength and its greatest weakness.  It would be fascinating to see the director Michel Hazanavicius (who also won an Oscar for best director) make a silent film set in the 21st century.  He clearly can tell a story well...I would be fascinated to see what he would do with other kinds of material.

This is a movie for those who love movies.  It has so many homages to other movies that it is a wonderful treat.  One could certainly enjoy it without being a movie buff, but knowledge of the movie does help.  There is a lot in this movie both to enjoy and to admire!