The Artist

The Artist (2011) is about the transition from silent film to sound, and it is itself a silent black and white film. George Valentin is Hollywood's biggest star in 1927. At a premiere he meets a young woman named Peppy Miller. Soon the studio moves to sound. George does not believe in it and makes a silent film with his own money; Peppy's talkie opens the same week. One falls and the other rises. The film is not built on a gimmick; it uses silence as a rule and breaks it deliberately twice. In one, George dreams and the objects around him begin making sound while he cannot speak. That scene tells the entire film by itself. Berenice Bejo plays Peppy and Jean Dujardin plays George. Dujardin won best actor, the first French actor to do so. It won five Oscars including best picture. It was the second time a silent film had taken that award, after the first ceremony in 1929. A dog named Uggie became one of its most discussed performers. An argument arose about the music. Bernard Herrmann's score from Vertigo was used in one section, and Kim Novak objected publicly, saying the feeling of her own film had been borrowed. Michel Hazanavicius directed, having previously made spy parodies. It runs 100 minutes. Good for: film history, silent cinema, and classical storytelling. Less good for: the story is familiar and the silent form keeps some viewers at a distance.