THE ARTIST

The Artist is a 2011 French comedy drama film directed by Michel Hazanavicius, starring Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo. The story takes place in Hollywood between 1927 and 1932 and focuses on a declining film star and a rising actress, as silent cinema goes out of fashion and is replaced by the talkies.
The film was nominated for six Golden Globes, the most of any film from 2011, and won three; Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, Best Original Score, and Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Dujardin). In January 2012 the film was nominated for twelve BAFTAs and ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for Hazanavicius, Best Actor in a Leading Role for Dujardin, and Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Bejo. In France, it has been nominated for ten César Awards including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Original Screenplay. With a budget of approximately $15, 000, 000, The artist has made up £4,470,081 in the UK, €9,531,290 in France and $12,119,718 in the USA.The movie has been credited for is flawless cinematography, its unique style and also being successful considering the fact that they worked with a low budget and took the risk of producing a silent movie in this day and age. Favourite scenes of mine include, when peppy goes into George’s dressing room on the set while he is in the bathroom. The scene of her putting one arm into his suit and hugging herself as if it were him plays a great illusion. Another of my favourite scenes was when George was dreaming and everything around him made a sound apart from him, it looks as if he is stuck in a world where he is the only silent figure, the whole dream was very clever especially the weightless feather at the very end dropping effortlessly to the ground and making the loudest sound. I think the Actors in this film were well suited for the roles and played them tremendously well. One memorable facial gesture which was seen quite a lot in silent movies was the iconic smile which George valentine displayed in a few scenes in the movie, it could be seen as quite humorous in one of the scenes where they were shooting a movie on set and George couldn’t keep a straight face. Today not a lot of people in this generation are familiar with silent movies so the humour and interest might not be there for quite a few people which limits the specific audience but still won the hearts of many of their targeted audiences and created a respectful reputation. The director of the artist Michel Hazanavicius states in one of his interviews “Right at the beginning, seven or eight years ago, I fantasized about making a silent film. Probably because the great mythical directors I admire most all come from silent cinema… Hitchcock, Lang, Ford, Lubitsch, Murnau, and Billy Wilder (as screenwriter)… But mainly because as a director it makes you face your responsibilities, it makes you tell the story in a very special way. It’s not up to the screenwriter, nor to the actors to tell the story – it really up to the director. In this genre everything is in the image, in the organisation of the signals you’re sending to the audience. And it’s an emotional cinema, it’s sensorial; the fact that you don’t go through a text brings you back to a basic way of telling a story that only works on the feelings you have created. It’s a fascinating way to work. I thought it would be a magnificent challenge and that if I could manage it, it would be very rewarding...”